Light in darkness

Isaiah 9:2 NKJV

The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.

Crash, bang, wallop broke the serenity of sleep.

What on earth had happened... the dog had yelped loudly in pain, my nearest and dearest was yelling out in frustrated rage. I jumped out of bed, put the light on to reveal the wretched scene...

There was blood pouring from said nearest and dearest's head - our dog was cowering in the corner of the living room and the carpet was spattered with blood like the scene of a murder!

"What's going on?" I asked incredulously.

"I tried to go to the bathroom without turning on the light" he replied, "I didn't realise that our dog was lying in the corridor, so I stumbled over him and hit my head on the door post."

A lot of bandaging, comforting and cleaning for dog and man ensued, followed by a great resolve: never to walk around in darkness again.

He now is armed with a torch for night time bathroom jaunts!

There is a spiritual analogy to this story.

Without Jesus who is the Light we stumble around - hurting ourselves and others in the process.

John 3:19 NLT

And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.

We don't see the damage that sin causes because the darkness hides the horribleness of our sin.

Yet when we come to the Light of Christ we see reality, everything is exposed and we can see clearly the mess we've made and let God clean us up.

Believers in Jesus have the torch of God's Word to lead and guide us through life, knowing that however dark it gets the Light of Christ will always prevail.

John 1:4-5 NLT

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

If you're going through dark times right now - hold onto the Light of Jesus - He will lead through that valley of the shadow of death.