Can You Find Peace in the Dark?

As a child, were you ever afraid of the dark?  Did you think that there were monsters under your bed, a creature in your closet or the boogie man outside your window?  All of my children were afraid of the dark, but my youngest, Emmanuel, has never found sleeping in the dark alone something he could get use to.  One night, I was going to the bathroom and I noticed that my couch looked a little lumpy.  There he was sleeping under the couch throw blanket very peacefully.  I left him there because it was only one night.

The next night and the night after, I found him on the couch sleeping like on the first night.    After three nights of this, I finally asked him why he was sleeping downstairs.  With a bit of embarrassment he said that as soon as Joey (his older brother) turned off the light in their room, he was too scared to sleep.  I started to try and convince him that there was nothing to be scared of when the light was off and then I thought, “Is there anything good that happens in the dark?  Since when is being in the dark okay.  Don’t convince him to accept the dark.  He gets no peace being in the dark and neither does anyone else.”

We are in December of 2017 and store owners barely finished decorating for Thanksgiving before setting up their shelves for Christmas.  Like them, we turn on the Chipmunk Christmas soundtracks, pick out the plastic tree, purchase the tinsel and start on the recipe for peppermint bark to be handed out at the first Christmas party.  It is also that time where we put a lean on our home, sell an old car or work 20 hours extra at work to get enough money to purchase that perfect gift.  We want to give that gift that lets our loved ones know they are special, adored and appreciated.  It’s a season of giving.

This is such an amazing time for everyone, or is it?  Christmas, as wonderful a time it is for most, it is also one of the saddest times for many as they look at their year and think about things they lost, things they don’t have and their struggle to get a handle on true happiness.  The truth is that on the “first” Christmas, though a time of rejoicing because our Savior was sent to this earth, for many during that time it was not a great experience.

As much as we have made Christmas a time for giving, love, appreciation, and candy canes; the birth of Jesus was not joyful for everyone.  It was not the celebration as we know celebration.  Jesus’ life brought pain, loss, death and inconvenience for many.  In the month of December we are going to look at the inconvenience and pain of bring forth the Light into a dark world, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

What to Expect When Your Expecting

I want you to go away with me to a time where tweeting was just the sound a bird made, sneakers were just people who came up on you unexpectedly and donkeys were given that name we want to call the idiot who cut us off on the highway.  It is a time when a 14 maybe 15 year old girl named Mary is consumed with the thoughts of getting married to her fiancée.  Life is getting overwhelming because even though she is only engaged, society treats her as if she is already married.  She just got use to her menstrual cycle and now she is getting ready for marriage.

Mary is probably daydreaming and thinking about all the different checklist of things to be done before the ceremony when she realizes that she is not alone.  There is a beautiful being in her room who looks so different from anyone she’s ever seen before.

“Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.”

He startles her as his voice is so commanding that the timid teenage girl is paralyzed by his presence.  He goes on to say,

“Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.”

In John 1:4-5 says,

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The way we, as westerners, distinguish Christmas is through all the lights that we put up on our tree, the front of our house and even on our car.  Why was Jesus described as light?   Jesus was called the Light because we are living in a world of darkness.  Sometimes we forget that the birth of Jesus was, yes a gift, however He was coming to a people who were blind to the sin that they were in.  God saw that His people were in a bad place and He needed to complicate several people’s lives in order to bring the Light into a dark, evil, wicked, demonic oppressed world.

The very first life that was challenged by the fulfillment of this promise is Mary.  This beautiful angel, name Gabriel, has just told her that she is pregnant.  As much as we may know the story, we don’t know the story.  In the world this teenager lived in, infidelity to your fiancée was like cheating on your husband and it was punishable by death.  Mary’s “gift”, Mary’s “surprise” was going to be scandalous in the world she lived in.  She could be labeled a whore, rejected by her family and (most of all) stoned to death by her society.

What kind of gift was this?  I thought that God was supposed to make life better not make it more complicated.  Do you understand the complication of God?  Sometimes we think that God makes our life simpler when we follow His commands.  After all, to be chosen by Him should mean that life becomes easier and being called by God should make sense to everyone.  For most, however, God interrupts, stirs up and complicates the lives we live in to fulfill the perfection of his plan to save lost lives.

Look at Mary’s response to the visitation, “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

God’s servant, to really understand what it means to be God’s servant one must first learn to understand His heart.  You do that, by reading His word and applying it to your everyday life.  One of the first things that most learn when they except God into their lives is  John 3:16 where it says that,

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have ever lasting life.” 

God’s passion is you, your family, your loved ones, your enemies, the guy who ran over your toe with the cart to get that last popular toy, and the person before you on line that acts like this is their first time looking at a McDonalds menu and don’t know what they serve (True story).   God’s desire is to not allow anyone to stay in the dark.

A Complex Gift

Mary says she is God’s servant, her being willing to be a part of God’s plan means that her life would be more complex by this gift and surprise.

To be called by God is a true honor, but don’t glamorize it’s responsibility and meaning.  Two brothers who were also disciples of Jesus had their mother come to Him and ask that they sit on both sides of Him in His Kingdom in Heaven.  Jesus told her and them that they had no idea what they were asking.  Sometimes the reason why others don’t last too long in their walk with God is because someone pitched Christianity to them as a life of easy living with promotion and riches.

You may not always understand what God is trying to do but always know that His desire is to save lives and bring light.  That may mean that God requires us to embark in a dark place to light that lamp.  After all, what sense does it make to go to a well lit place to shine a light?  His plan for bringing light may not be the path we would take and it may require more than we were expecting to invest.  Those around you may not understand what God is doing with you but know that His plan is far greater than those around us.  Others may question the complexity or complication of the task He has called us to but, don’t allow their finite mind to try and convince you to turn around from God’s sophisticated will.  The very ones who don’t understand may be the very ones that need that light.

Also, keep in mind that the very thing that God calls a gift may not be seen to us as one until later.  We may experience hard times with some seasons of confusion but what is seen as complication at first will later, as we hold to Him, be used and transformed into a gift that will lead many to salvation.  He will use your dark moments and turn them into a sign of safety where His light will shine.

Weekly Challenge:

I don’t know where you are today.  Are you trying to find peace in darkness but feel fear, like my son Emmanuel?  Are there others that are comfortable and you just can’t seem to get there?  God wants to bring light in your dark place.  He never wants you to feel peace in uncertainty.  Take sometime this week to see if there is an area you need God to shine the light on.  He is the light of your life, just let him in.