Refuge of Grace

Do you struggle with day upon day of slate gray, dull, wintery days? You know, the ones where darkness creeps in before 5 PM? Me too. Honestly, I am deeply afraid of this season. The darkness of night often breeds opaqueness within my soul, where depression and anxiety lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce. I need Jesus in every season, but winter exposes a yearning necessity for my Savior.

In these moments of darkness, Jesus offers words of hope to illuminate our shadows. In John 8:12, Jesus declares to a group gathered in the temple,

These are words we see and hear often; however I invite you to pause here, letting Jesus’ words spark light within you. In Alexander MacLaren’s commentary on John 8:12, “The Light of the World,” he helps us understand this familiar scripture. In this passage, Jesus declares He is the true light and urges us to follow Him through darkness. The end of this verse is my favorite, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus doesn’t promise that the darkness around His light will disappear, but He does promise that He will guide us by illuminating our path with His light.

Gazing at our world, we see how God illuminates darkness: the candle flame dancing atop a birthday cake or the flickering flames blazing in the hearth of a fireplace. Our eyes are drawn not to the darkness, but the light. Light captivates us. We sense it when we close our eyes—we feel it’s warmth on our faces or hear a small puff emitted from the tiny flame. It might still be dark around these beacons of light; however, we are transfixed by the light.

Depression, anxiety, or whatever darkness you carry, brings dark nights, but when we follow Jesus, He leads us through with His true light. The darkness might come back again and again, never fully going away, but following Jesus means we are not overcome. Instead, our Jesus, the illuminator of darkness, grabs our hand and graciously leads us through the dark, one ray of light at a time.