Confronting the Darkness of Uncertainty

What goes through your mind when a thunderstorm suddenly rages outside, and in an instant, you are left in darkness as all the lights go out?  No candles, no flashlights, just the darkness.

George Iles, a 19^th century author of articles concerning various scientific topics wrote, “Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.” Darkness is one of our earliest fears isn’t it?  It may be close to a universal fear.  We desire to see all that is before us and when we are unable to do so, our imagination begins to work overtime.  We see things that aren’t really there, we hear things that cause the hairs on the back of our necks to stand up, or we imagine all sorts of danger looming just over there in the shadows.

I am told that as a very young child I slept with a nightlight on in my bedroom.  We lived in a large, old multi-storied house that creaked and groaned. Having a very active imagination, I conjured up all sorts of creatures lurking in and around our house who made those noises to prepare me for certain doom as their hands reached out for me in the darkness.

At some point I decided the ghosts and goblins and assorted sprites who were trying to scare me no longer would bother me.  I figured if they had wanted to take me to some nether land of the spirit underworld, I would have already been their captive.  That I had survived that fate gave me hope the darkness and whatever it held would not, could not harm me.  A sense of grace-filled survival became the best antidote to the darkness, my fear or my negative thinking.

As many of us know and have experienced, the lack of light is not the only form that darkness takes, is it?  Darkness is an experience we may encounter when a void is created in our lives, a void such as the death of a loved one, an unexpected diagnosis of some potentially terminal disease, a reversal of fortunes.  The assurance we had that things would always be as good as they were, is no longer something we can count on.

For instance, the death of a loved one robs us of living a future in which that loved one is with us in mind, body, and spirit to encourage us or instruct us or even to criticize us.  Robbed of that future life, our outlook, our attitude can become dark.  We can become depressed or uncertain, another form of darkness.  We imagine all the places and events and gatherings we had expected to share with the person who is now absent.  We begin to spiral down, regretful or angry that life has robbed us of the opportunity to enjoy those we love but who are with us no more.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”  From the unexpected, from a lack of assurance, from not trusting in good outcomes, we can find, however, our strength.  In struggling to find hope so that we might find a place of peace and contentment, a place wherein we feel complete, we might begin to sense or experience a sure and certain hope that someone or something is holding out a hand or an opportunity to us, to help us trust, to find joy, or to find hope.

It is in confronting the darkness or our negative attitudes that we can be free of that which holds us back. We can become strong and confident in tense times, and know that disasters, floods, death, disappointment, that none of these, can keep us from hope for an outcome that nurtures and affirms.

Perhaps these verses will help you discern one way out of darkness.  Ephesians 5:8-14.

Hold out your hand for someone who is in darkness.  You might be their hope and their light.  Peace.

Author: Jon

Aspiring Writer and Blogger. Former Banker, Teacher, Headmaster and Pastor. View all posts by Jon