Trust and See

Despite the popularity of the old folk song with the line, "Hello, Darkness, my old friend," most people do not regard the darkness as their friend.  Darkness hides.  Darkness limits vision. Darkness makes the familiar things of the world invisible.  Darkness makes ordinary things like walking and working more difficult.  Here on the farm when darkness comes, it is truly dark.  Very dark. To walk around here when the sun has disappeared is to risk stumbling, falling, or running into some nocturnal critter whose sudden appearance can make the heart skip a beat.  

Before I was ordained, I had to write a sermon for the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry.  I have lost the sermon, but I have always remembered the text.  It was from Colossians 1:13-14 which reads, "He (Jesus) has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  It is a text which speaks of a darkness that is deeper than the farm darkness.  In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle speaks of an inner darkness, a spiritual darkness, a darkness of a soul that was at its creation bathed in eternal light.  It is the kind of darkness from which there is no relief.  

The truth is that we are not capable of finding our way out of this spiritual darkness without Christ.  He is the Light of the World (John 8:12), He is the eternal creating Light, He is the Light which can penetrate any spiritual darkness and the Light which no darkness can overcome.  (John 1:1-5).  We no longer have to walk in a darkness that blinds us to who we are, why we are here, and to Whom we really belong.  We no longer have to stumble about trying to find answers to the core questions of our life.  Jesus is the answer to all of them.  Trust in Him and see.