I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Psalm 139:7-12 NLT
I really do love fall. The smells, the colors, the football, even the cooler weather. Only one thing is not high on my list. The days get shorter and the nights get longer. I can hardly believe the sunrise doesn’t come in the morning until almost 7:50 AM, and the sunset rushes back at 6:33 PM. How is that even possible? It seems just weeks ago it was almost 9 PM before we were calling the kids in from playing in the backyard! And I loved the sun streaming in my window waking me up so early. It’s different now. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live in Antarctica. Can you imagine? It is solid darkness for four months.
Living in extended darkness can cause depression and panic. At the very least it is unnerving. Spiritual darkness is similar. It often sneaks up on us and suddenly we realize the sun is gone and the darkness is deafening. It doesn’t seem possible that not long ago you felt like you heard God regularly and you were enjoying walking in the light. But something happened, the lights went out, and God seems to have gone radio silent.
But the truth is that darkness and light are the same to God. There is NO place I can hide from God, and He will never withdraw from me. I can never get away from His presence. My mistakes and sins don’t make it too dark. The machinations and manipulations of others against me don’t make Him pull away from me. He is with me for the long haul. Jesus said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you” (Hebrews 13:15 NIV). I may not hear Him, I may not feel Him, but He is with me. The sun WILL shine again. The darkness WILL dissipate. You will hear Him again, and you will know He has been with you all the time.
- “Never doubt in the dark what God showed you in the light.” – V. Raymond Edman