The Light the Darkness Cannot Overcome
by Michaelle Moran
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 (CSB)
Were you ever afraid of the dark as a child? I honestly can’t remember if I was or not, but based on how I can sometimes react to it as an adult, my guess would be that I was sorely afraid of it.
When we can’t see what is surrounding us, our imagination likes to help us “see” by filling in the blanks. Trust me, that’s not always helpful.
As you may know, my husband and I enjoy camping. What I don’t always enjoy is the pitch-black night when we’re deep in the woods—especially when there are sounds echoing throughout that pitch-black night.
I’m not afraid that there are monsters or ghosts, but you better believe I envision a big ol’ grizzly bear waiting to maul me. Or the biggest, most rabid raccoon this side of the Mississippi hiding under our camper, just waiting to pounce as soon as I place my foot on the first rung of the camper steps.
I’ve even let my imagination convince me there is an escaped convict lurking in the woods. No matter the scenario, I end up physically harmed and mentally scarred.
There’s another darkness causing me fear these days. Ironically, I can see clearly in this darkness and it is scarier than anything my imagination could ever cook up. It is the darkness we are witnessing in our country and throughout the world.
Are you surprised by what is happening today? We shouldn’t be. In his letter to Timothy, Paul spelled out what the last days would be like:
“But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Does any of this sound familiar? How about all of it? Aren’t these the very headlines filling our screens and saturating our airwaves today?
Friend, this isn’t simply a case of humans being human, made more visible by 24-hour news cycles and social media. Yes, history is rife with sin and godlessness, but what we are seeing today is an intensification of both. And it is scary.
That is, it’s scary if we don’t already know the ending. But we do. Not only do we know how the story ends, God has given us these signs as assurance that the ending will unfold exactly as He said it would.
As believers in Jesus Christ, waiting in expectation of His return, we should be rejoicing at what we are seeing—not at the violence or loss of life, nor at the depravity collapsing society, but in the knowledge that Jesus will soon return.
How soon? Only God knows. But we do know this: we are witnessing an increase in darkness—an increase in evil—and that, dear friend, signals that God's redemptive plan is moving steadily forward.
It is dark out there, and it is growing increasingly darker. But we need not be afraid of the darkness, because in Jesus is life—and that life is the light of all mankind. (John 1:4)
In John 1:5, John emphasizes this truth even further:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
No matter how dark it becomes before His return, that darkness will never overcome His light—the light within you and me, the very light of God Himself.
Like my toddler grandson, who keeps ghost spray to repel what scares him in the dark, we have something far greater: the Word of God, the hope of Jesus, and His light—so we need not be afraid of the dark…in the woods or in the world.
