Wednesday 29th November
“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,’
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day” (Psalm 139:11-12) (NIVUK)
There is probably no greater contrast than the difference between light and dark. It is used throughout scripture to portray the vast gulf between good and evil, love and hate, and spiritual understanding and spiritual blindness. At creation, light and dark were ‘separated’ (Gen 1:4), placing them apart from each other from the beginning of time.
But to God, there is no difference between light and dark – everything is totally visible to him, ‘the night will shine like the day’. This is in stark contrast to us, who stumble and fall in the darkness, and fear the shadows of the night. There is nothing hidden, or any evil lurking in the darkness, that is not revealed by God’s presence. “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible – and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.” (Ephesians 5:13) (NIVUK).
Just as distance cannot separate us from God’s loving presence, nor can darkness. From the huge expanses of the sky and sea (vs. 7-10), to the small, secret hiding places, God is there, seeing all, knowing all, revealing all. His son, Jesus, is ‘the Light’ (see John 9:4,5), shining in the darkness, revealing hidden secrets, sin, and the true intention of our hearts, and lighting our way so we can walk in God’s paths and rejoice in being fully known by him.
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) (NIVUK)
Karen Barklay
