Enter the Dark

Did you know that there are at least 153 passages of Scripture about darkness? Yes, in many of them, the darkness is a bad, an evil, or a gloom that God has overcome; Jesus is the light of the world, after all (John 8:12). Darkness is not dark to him, after all (Psalm 139:12).

But there are others—mysterious passages of Scripture, texts you were probably not formed in, did not memorize, texts you may have never heard preached on—where darkness is a companion, where darkness envelops God’s throne, where darkness is good, and where darkness contains treasures.

Maybe you find yourself in the dark right now—distressed, disappointed, and deeply confused. You don’t see God’s light overcoming the darkness, and you certainly aren’t finding any treasures in it. You are just trying to survive. You are endeavoring to not sink in the dark waters of grief, while overwhelming waves of lost people, pathways, and pipe dreams crash over you. You’re fighting fiercely to exist in your skin, to not disappear, to screw your faith to the sticking place, while at the same time you feel like you’re barely inhabiting your own life, a two-dimensional portrayal of who you used to be.

I know how that feels, friend. You are not alone.

This Bible study is an invitation from one nighttime traveler to another, an opportunity to walk side by side through the darkness, to honor our pain and loss and discover how God shows up in what feels like his absence. By creating space for the worst things we have ever been forced to hold, by forging the darkest paths we have ever tread, I believe we can—we will—find glimmers of goodness here.

As you read today’s scriptures, note every mention of darkness. What do you think the author of the biblical text is trying to express? Take a moment to write or even just whisper a prayer, based on one of the passages of scriptures, about the darkness you are currently facing. Invite God to reveal to you some of what He might be inviting you into in this difficult season.