50 Shades of Darkness
By Elin Henderson
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of
darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ..”
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV)
Sometimes it seems that the darkness
that surrounds us here in Africa is so intense, so heavy, so impenetrable that we
wonder if light will ever break through. If there were 50 shades of darkness,
they would all be found here: darkened souls, darkened minds, darkened eyes,
darkened hearts...
Perhaps today you are reaching out
to people whose hearts seem this way. The prince of darkness has blinded and
darkened them. Maybe you are not ministering to darkened souls but your own
life has become heavy, dark, void and without form? There are times in our personal lives that
darkness threatens to overwhelm us as well.
But lest we lose hope and heart and
get sucked into this darkness, God gives us tremendous verses of encouragement
like the one above in II Corinthians. Shining light into dark places is God’s
specialty. After all, it is where He started. “The earth was without form, and
void and darkness was on the face of the deep…Then God said, ‘Let there be
light’; and there was light…” [1]
Let’s face it. Since the dawn of
creation, there has never been darkness like in the book of Genesis. Literal
emptiness, no light, no life - - nothing!
And somehow from that, God spoke light and life into being. I don’t know
about you, but those simple verses bring a lot of hope and encouragement to my
heart! Even to this day, He uses His powerful WORD to transform darkness into
light!
No matter the darkness that
surrounds us, we have a God who is ruler of the day and the night. Darkness
cannot hold Him or limit Him. In fact, He conquers it, speaking “life and
light” into it. What our world needs is more and more of His WORD of light to
pierce through the 50 shades of darkness!
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
What
darkness are you facing today? Would you term it as a ministry darkness or a
personal darkness?
2.
How can
the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, transform this
darkness into light?
FURTHER
READING:
[1] Genesis 1:2,3
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin
Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters
with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa.
Elin is mother to sixteen-year-old Callie and fourteen-year-old Elias.
