Bring Light Into The Darkness

I recently travelled to the Oregon coast to encapsulate the crawlspace in my daughter’s house. The house was built in 1916, and like many homes of that era, it has an earthen crawlspace in which you literally needed to crawl in to move around.

The mere thought of crawling around in a dark, damp place is more than some can handle. For others, it’s the enclosed space that evokes feelings of claustrophobia, and for still others, it’s the dirt that instills apprehension. The typical crawlspace offers a trifecta: a dark, enclosed, and dirty space. To make matters worse, this crawlspace was also used as a getaway by raccoons and mice! Crawlspaces are somewhere that most would be happy to remain in the dark about.

Light is your friend when working in a dark place. While a light will not increase the space's size or reduce dirt, it enables you to see what surrounds you. However, you may not want to see all that lurks in the darkness of the crawlspace (insects and scat), yet without light, we cannot bring change. So, do we want to bring change or remain in the false comfort of darkness?

In John 3, Jesus addresses our struggle between light and darkness, telling Nicodemus, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:19–21)

As odd as Jesus’ verdict may seem, we know it’s true. Who among us does not seek to hide, cover up our sin? Why not bring our sins into the light where change can occur? Because we’re fearful that the change will be painful, however, the real pain, judgment, comes from not treating our sin. Just as not treating moisture in a crawlspace can cause harm to our home, so will sin left in the darkness destroy our lives.

What are we to do? Knowing “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5) gives us hope. As Psalm 139 also declares, “I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.” (Psalm 139:11–12)

Knowing that God sees us even in the darkness should bring comfort rather than causing us to fear. When I crawl into the crawlspace, the bugs are there whether I see them or not. Seeing them enables me to deal with them. Likewise, knowing that God is omnipresent, that there is nowhere that we can go where He is not, should cause us to echo David’s cry, “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.” (Psalm 139:7–10)

Wherever we go, even there God will be and will lead us; his right hand will hold on to us. While darkness can offer a false comfort in the status quo, light allows us to address the things lurking in the darkness that cause fear. And when the light reveals them, fear will be disarmed, and we will be able to bring change.

The light of the gospel equips us to confess the fear that holds us captive. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Had I not taken a light with me into the crawlspace, I could not have addressed the problems that were hidden in the darkness. The same is true for us. We are invited to allow the light of the gospel to shine into our lives, to walk in the truth, so that we might be set free from the fear of death and destruction.