Look for the light

When there is darkness, I think it’s natural to look for the light.

When there are storms, like the ones my neck of the woods might experience tonight, we wait for the sun and wish for its light to break through the clouds.

When we drive down a long road and happen to go through a dark tunnel, we look for the light at the end of it.

I think we look for the light because, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, light is the only thing strong enough to drive out darkness.

It’s daylight while I write this from a rocking chair on a front porch in a small Alabama town, but I can’t deny there’s darkness all around.

The news is stacked with caseloads and death tolls from a virus which has proven to be a formidable foe.

It’s generated a lot of change, a lot of fear and it’s left us to wonder when light will break through its darkness.

I don’t know when this virus will pass, and I’m not sure when it’ll be safe to venture out into the world without the precautions we’ve taken to slow its spread.

I don’t know much, but one of the things I do know is light breaks through the dark.

When you walk into a dark room and flip a light switch connected to power, a good bulb does its job and you’re not in a dark room anymore.

The sun rises, and its light drives out the darkness at dawn.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence “light” is the WordPress Discover prompt for this Easter Sunday.

I think it fits pretty well into a day when we celebrate the way the Light of the World drove out the darkness of death.

You might wonder where God is in these dark days.

You might wonder why He doesn’t snap His fingers and make this virus vanish.

You might wonder why it happened at all.

I don’t know the answers to all of those questions, but here are several things I do know.

I know God is still here.

I know God isn’t a puppet who does just what I want Him to do just when I want Him to do it.

I know I don’t have the wisdom to make the world spin, or pull the strings of the universe.

I know I can’t even pull the strings of my own life, because when I try I screw it up.

I know Jesus loves me.

I know He loves you, too.

I know He loves me enough to die for me even though I’ll never be good enough to deserve it and I’ll never be good enough to get to God on my own.

I know He died for you, too, even though you’ll never be good enough to deserve it and you’ll never be good enough to get to God on your own.

I know that’s why Jesus had to die, and I know that’s why Jesus gave Himself for us.

I know He rose again, and that’s what the celebrations across the world today are all about.

I know He defeated death so I know this virus isn’t too big for Him.

I know I trusted Him to drive the darkness out of my life, and I know He’ll drive the darkness out of yours if you trust Him, too.

Even though I trust Him, I know I still have problems.

I know you’ll still have problems, too.

Life won’t always work out the way you want it to, the way you plan for it to go or the way you think it should.

I know even when I have problems, even when there’s darkness all around, I can look for the Light and He’ll always be there.

I know He’ll always be there for you, too, if you surrender your life to the One who gives it and trust Him to guide you the rest of the way.

We are in some dark days, and I don’t know when they’ll end, but I think the best thing we can do is what comes natural when there is darkness.

Look for the Light.