The Light!

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined."

(Isaiah 9:2)

For the past 2+ months, we've had no light in our downstairs bathroom. One morning I walked in, flipped the switch, and nothing happened. The fan turned on when I flipped the other switch, but no light. Normally 4 vanity lights came on above the mirror. Weird. Maybe it blew a circuit? But the fan still comes on. Hmmm... I tried replacing a lightbulb. Nope. Still didn't work. Bust be a wiring problem - or something else beyond my scope of expertise. So I began to get used to having a darkened bathroom.

During the day, I pulled back the curtains in the bathroom to let the sunshine in. No problem. At night, however, it was a bit more dicey. I could turn on the hallway light. Or the back porch light. Or use my cell phone light. But it was still pretty dark. And sometimes I had to use the restroom so urgently, I didn't have time to turn on other lights... so I just did what I had to do in the dark. (Did I mention this is how I lived for TWO MONTHS?!?).

The prophet Isaiah wrote at a time of darkness in Israel. The people had strayed form God's teachings and practices. They'd basically abandoned the LORD, and so God allowed them to be overcome by their enemies. It got pretty dark.

But with God, no one is ever too far gone or too far beyond hope. Isaiah 9:2 speaks of a time when "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined." What a gift light can be! Especially when one has gotten used to "managing in the darkness."

Of course, we see Jesus as the great light. He's the Light of the World, who pierces our darkness... no matter how dark things may get! If we'll look to Him, he will illuminate our way.

Oh, by the way, friends came over yesterday to look at my "darkness problem." After an hour of checking, testing, and probing, they were stumped. Then we discovered a second switch in the adjacent bedroom (of my daughter, who's in college in Texas, so we basically never need to go into that room). It was turned off, which prevented any electricity into the bathroom lighting. One flip, and the light returned. Praise God! (But dang, why I'd wait so long to get out of the dark!??!)