I imagine if aliens do exist and are somehow watching our planet right now, they'd think we were pretty crazy.
We shoot each other. We stab each other. We blow each other up. What a world.
There seems to be a lot of darkness in the world lately. If it isn't a stabbing at my local community college, it's a huge earthquake overseas or a bombing on the other side of the country. There's a lot of darkness.
But there is also light. John 1:5 says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
In tragic situations like these, there is always the light that shines out brightly, whether in the form of a schoolteacher giving her life for her students or group of teenagers traveling to another country to help give out provisions.
"Light" is not an ambiguous phrase referring to good deeds or goodness of heart. "The light" always refers to the goodness of God.
In the midst of terrible darkness, God is working. To Him, darkness is as bright as day - literally and figuratively. God has a plan in the midst of the darkness of the world. He says in Romans that "all things work together for the good of those who love Him". There is so much light.
He also promises to restore. There are so, so many verses in His word that talk about restoration (read Isaiah or the Psalms). But I love Isaiah 42:16 in particular: "I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them." The Light will not forsake us.
Terrible things happen around us, but the light will remain. The Light is Jesus. He is not a historical figure who died 2,000 years ago; neither is He a vague, impersonal being. He is the ever-present, all-sufficient Son of God who is the constant Light in our dark world. All the "good deeds" and figurative "light" that we see amid the darkness stems from, I believe, God's goodness. He works through people and situations in these times to shine His Light.
There's a lot of darkness, and it's easy to get discouraged by it. But there's also a lot of light. And the darkness can never extinguish that Light.
