Thursday, March 6th, 2025
Yesterday morning, my children and I were heading downstairs to our homeschool room. We have a somewhat finished room in our basement complete with desks, bookshelves and chalkboards. This room is in the far end of our basement so we usually head down and turn the lights on and then go back and turn off all the other unnecessary basement lights.
My two youngest children were with me as I started to turn off the unused basement lights and I could tell that my 3-year-old was a little hesitant in the darkness. Out of my mouth came, “Just follow the light.” Instantly my spirit leapt within me and I could tell this wasn’t just to calm my child’s heart but it was an encouraging word for my spiritual journey as well. The next thing that came to my mind is one of my favorite scriptures. It’s Psalm 139:12:
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
As someone who is walking out of a life of fear this is a verse that has come to me often but took me a long time to comprehend. Darkness and night had historically been places of much trauma and anxiety for me. When nights are plagued with fear and panic attacks it’s hard to understand that day and night are the same. When peaceful sleep is elusive it’s hard to believe that God dwells in the night and day alike. But this doesn’t negate the scripture. My experience didn’t align with the word, but that doesn’t falsify it. The truth is that God dwells in every part of our day and night and in every corner of our existence.
Final Thoughts…
If the day and night are alike to God, as children of the King that implies our experience should be the same. Is there really any darkness if God, who is Light, goes with us through it all? The only time we might find ourselves in a place of darkness is if we venture somewhere outside of God’s will. To me, thinking about this topic is a little bit like pondering the size of the universe. It really is too much for us to wrap our brains around. Does anyone really know how many galaxies there are, how old they are or how they form and collapse? It’s one of those things we probably are not meant to fully understand, we just have to believe what God says. If He is light and He never leaves us or forsakes us, then everywhere we go within His presence there will never be darkness. It’s not just truth; it’s a blanket of peace in our darkest nights. It’s an extended hand in our muckiest pits. It’s a river of love in our deepest valleys.