By Ada Brownell
I've never been afraid of the dark. When I was a kid the
darker it was, the better we liked it.
The main reason for that is during the summer my siblings
and I played Kick the Can after dark. The game was similar to Hide and Seek,
except we set an empty can upside down in the middle of the yard. The person who was “It” had to count to 100 while
we hid and then begin searching.
If the “It” person
found us, we could race and kick the can before the person who was “It” could do
it. If we beat him to the can, then we
could hide again and the person who was “It” had to count and go back to
hunting. Sometimes we’d sneak around and kick the can even when we hadn’t been
found because then the “It” person had to count to 100 again and we’d hide.
I slept outside under the stars with friends during the
summer, too. Dark night didn’t scare me. In those days there wasn’t much to be
frightened of in the dark, or even the light.
One night, though, while walking to church by myself when I
was 12 or 13, I noticed the neighbor who lived across the street stumbling
along toward me on the sidewalk, singing. He was drunk! I was halfway between
church and home so I decided to walk as quietly as I could on the edge of the
sidewalk and perhaps he wouldn’t notice me.
Instead, when I
tiptoed beside him, he shouted, “Boo!”
I shot down the street as his loud laughs echoed all over
the neighborhood. I arrived at church in
record time, huffing and puffing.
After I was married, in a little town with no street lights
I went out to empty the trash in a fenced pit area. Thought nothing of it
because I knew where it was, even in the dark. Just as I dumped the waste
basket a cat shot up out of the bin with a loud yowl. I about left my skin
there.
Today, however, on occasion reality causes me and many Christians
to view the future as a trip into darkness because of fearsome unknowns. We’re
told in 2 Timothy 3:1 that in the last days before Christ’s return, perilous
times shall come. Jesus even said, “In this world you will have tribulation.”
How should we respond? The answer is to get into God’s Word.
God inspired the writers to insert so many promises there. Jesus’s warning in
John 16:33 is followed by, “But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
Only recently I noticed a scripture that hadn’t caught my
attention before, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness” (1
Kings 8:12).
Solomon reminded Israel of that during the temple dedication
when the presence of God came as a cloud and filled the temple and priests
couldn’t even minister. Perhaps some in attendance trembled, scared out of what
they couldn’t see. It was as silly then to be afraid of the dark as it is now.
The cloud blocking the light in the temple was God’s awesome glory and should
cause joy instead of fear.
Today if He’s our Lord, we know God is with us—even in the
dark. He promised to never leave or forsake (Hebrews 13:5), and we can hold on
to that, even when the future seems to look dark and foreboding. God even
dwells in the thick darkness!
Copyright Ada Brownell
2016
Ada Brownell, a retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain, is the author of nine books, including Peach Blossom Rancher, an historical
romance released by Elk Lake Publishing.
Go to her Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell
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