What to Read When Darkness is Heavy

I wrote last fall about one of my favorite themes of scripture: the Lord’s light in our darkness. It really is so powerful and one of the greatest truths that I have encountered in my walk with God. In our rawest moments of pain and heartache, the Lord is there with His presence and peace, illuminating our life. 

My heart always resonates with verses I read that proclaim this truth, so I did a double take when I was recently reading in Exodus about the plagues. As I came to the verses about the ninth plague, the plague of darkness, it read, “There will be a darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings.” (Exodus 10:21b-23, emphasis added)

When I read that last line about how the Israelite’s tents still had light in their homes, my interest was piqued. I had always pictured the plague of darkness permeating every square inch of the land. To discover that God’s people still had light when the darkness around them was thick was an enlightening (excuse the joke) moment. As I read the words over again, I let my gaze rest on that last sentence. It became clear to me that it was both a promise and a call.

The Promise

We have all experienced moments or even seasons of darkness. The passage above resonated deeply with me when I read that the land was covered with “darkness that can be felt” because that’s exactly the way it is with our hearts, too. I can remember the feelings of hopelessness shortly after our daughter’s diagnosis and the questions I had about what life moving forward would look like. It felt scary, and initially I was filled with a weighty dread of all the unknowns. I felt the darkness of those moments.

The beauty in it, though, was the same truth from this story: though our circumstances thrust us into a place of darkness, the Lord gave us His light to sustain us. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word truly carried us through those early days and spoke to our hearts that we were not alone. The Psalms gave words to our cries for help and sustained us with promises of the Lord’s faithfulness.

And that is the truth that we stand on. Whether walking through a medical diagnosis, chronic illness, or even death, we have the promise that the darkness will never outweigh the light that we have in Jesus.

The Call

Knowing that our light will not go out beckons us to bring it to places of darkness, pain, and despair. When we share the light inside of us with those who need it, we will set off a chain reaction of light. Just as light spreads light, hope spreads hope.

So what are practical ways that we can share this light? It can look one of two ways. If you are in the midst of a dark season and are finding light in those moments, don’t be afraid to share that! It is tremendously inspiring for those watching your journey unfold to see you finding hope in the midst of the difficult days. If you have a friend or family member who is walking through a difficult season, sharing hope is really quite practical and simple. Go sit and be with someone, pray with or for them, send an encouraging text message, drop off a meal or small gift, and the list goes on. What’s amazing is that you will find that your small act of kindness will spark a new glimmer of hope in the person you serve.

This article was originally published on April 28, 2016. With the global COVID-19 pandemic, we thought the community would be encouraged by these truths.