Darkness and Despair
Living in Darkness
Where do you turn in times of darkness and despair? What do you hold onto when you’re in the dark?
There are a lot of people who are living in darkness in our world right now.
Researches say that 2020 has been a year where depression has tripled in the US in adults due to stresses related to COVID-19.
Just think about that, the number of people in our country who are experiencing or struggling with darkness and depression has tripled this year due to the pandemic.
Appearances, though, can be deceiving
We’re good at covering up the darkness and despair we sometimes feel. From the perspective of those looking on from the outside world, it seems as if we have it all together.
People can have a good job, wonderful family, be the picture of health, and still feel lost and alone.
People can drive nice cars and live in beautiful homes and be living in complete darkness and despair.
People can show up at church, even be a leader within the church or active in an important way and still be consumed with pride, be trapped in sin, or overwhelmed by shame.
People can seem like they have it all together, but they’re living in darkness. Despair is all around them. They’re not sure where to turn for help or where to find hope.
3 Problems with Darkness
And you know the problem with darkness and despair. When you’re in the dark, especially when you’re in total darkness…
1 // It’s as if you’re BLIND.
You can’t see what’s true. Every night after I tuck my daughter into bed she asks me to turn on the hall light outside her door. I can be standing in the room next to her bed but if my daughter can’t see me, if she’s blind to the fact that I’m in the room because of the darkness, then it’s easy to feel alone.
2 // It’s easy to FORGET.
In total darkness it’s easy to forget what you know is true when the lights are on. When the lights are on, my daughter can see that I am near. When the lights are on, she can see that she is protected, she is cared for, and she is dearly loved. But in the darkness, it’s easy to forget that all of that is true.
3 // It’s easy to become AFRAID.
When the lights are on it’s easy to see that there’s nothing to fear. But in the dark, it’s easy to be afraid of what you can’t see, of the unknown, of what if, it’s easy to be paralyzed with fear when you’re surrounded by darkness.
And there are a lot of people surrounded by darkness right now in our world. Not because the lights have been turned off, but because there is a different kind of darkness that has come over their lives.
Like my daughter at bedtime, a lot of people are wishing someone would turn on a light.
733 – 732 BCE
But this isn’t just our experience, this has been the experience of the people of God throughout the ages. For those who live in the land of deep darkness, for those who know the anguish of despair, God has a word of promise.
I want to take you back in time to somewhere around the year 733-732 BCE. At that time there was a prophet of God by name of Isaiah who spoke the word of God to people who were living in a land of deep darkness.
At the time, the problem wasn’t a pandemic. In those days the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. You had the nation of Israel in the North & the nation of Judah in the South. So the people of God were divided.
What’s worse? They made allies with other nations in order to destroy each other. This was a dark time in the nation of Israel and Isaiah was God’s prophet with a message for God’s people to turn away from relying on their own power, turn away from relying on foreign alliances, turn away from listening to other voices, and turn back to God.
The Warning
So here’s what Isaiah says to the people of God in Isaiah 8.18-22. These are words of warning that they needed to hear.
18 I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
With the threat of invasion upon them, Isaiah calls the people of God to turn back to God! If they continue to live in opposition to God, if they continue to live in rebellion to God, if they continue to seek alliances with foreign nations, continue to rely on their own power, continue to turn to mediums and the spirits of the dead… they will find nothing but darkness and despair!
You might think that God might be done with his people. You might think that because of their rebellion, because they have turned away from him over and over again, that God might just be done with them and move on.
But the love of God is greater and the grace of God is deeper and the mercy of God is wider and the compassion of God is higher than anything we could ever imagine. And in the very next verse, we see the amazing love of God on display for His people who are living in a land of darkness.
The Promise
Isaiah says in the very next verse…
Isaiah 9.1-2
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever.
Even though the people have turned away from God and have chosen to live in darkness, Isaiah says that their darkness and despair will NOT last forever. He says…
2 The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
Isaiah not only speaks words of judgement, he also speaks words of hope and words of promise. These are words of hope for people who are living in the land of darkness who are looking for a light.
What is the Light that Isaiah is speaking of? If you keep reading, Isaiah says…
Isaiah 9.6-7
6 For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
Darkness and Despair
Where do you turn in times of darkness and despair? What do you hold onto in the darkness?
Do you tend to rely on your own strength? Do you turn to other voices in the world around you? Or, do you turn to the One, True God, to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies?
There was a remnant of people who held onto faith in Israel, this small group of God followers that Isaiah was a part of who refused to give up on God even in their present darkness, this small group of believers who held on to the words of God, the teachings and instructions of God, even when the world was completely dark… because they held on to their faith a light would shine. (Isaiah 10.20-21; 11.1-2, 10)
Like this remnant in Israel, your faith in the middle of the darkest night makes a way for the Light of Christ to shine not just to those around you, but for future generations.
Whenever I step out of my daughter’s room and I turn on the light at night, something happens. Her fear is removed. It’s such a simple act. Such an easy thing. Something I’m more than happy to do.
Here’s the thing… someone needs you to turn the Light on for them. There are people living in darkness all around you. There are people losing hope all around you. There are people who appear to have it all together but they’ve never felt more alone. People who have it all in terms of what the world offers but they’re living in darkness. People who show up at church but are stuck in sin.
There is despair and darkness all around us and even within us.
For people living in spiritual darkness…
1 // They are BLIND.
It keeps us from seeing what is true. From seeing what God sees. From seeing ourselves and seeing others the way God sees us and the way God sees others.
2 // It makes us FORGET.
We forget who we are. Who we’re called to be. What God has done. What God can do. Who God says we are. Who God wants us to love. What our purpose, our mission is. It put us in a fog so we can no longer see the truth.
3 // And… It fills us with fear.
That’s what darkness does. It fills us with fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what if. Fear that paralyzes us into inaction and consumes us inside and out.
Turn on the Light
How can you turn on the Light for those who are trapped in darkness? How can you share the Light with them?
You do the same thing this remnant in Israel did…
When you keep believing, keep trusting, keep believing in the middle of your darkness and despair, you make a way for others to see the Light of Christ. For others, even future generations, to experience the Light, the hope, and the salvation of Jesus!
Whatever darkness you’re in, whatever despair surrounds you, hold on to FAITH in the dark and you will see that a NEW LIGHT will dawn.
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