Look for the Light
This time of year, I find myself looking for the light. In my corner of the world, the sun slips below the horizon at about 5PM and it can feel as if the darkness is swallowing the day whole. A quick glance at the news only reinforces the sense that darkness is trending. Anxiety, fear, and sadness are all the rage. The psalmist says it plainly: “You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend.” (Psalm 88:18)
This past Sunday, our pastor reminded us of the world Jesus was born into—God’s people were powerless, poor, and oppressed under the weight of foreign occupation. Helplessness mixed with hopelessness was the air they breathed. Maybe some of you know that feeling.
What does it mean to look for the light when darkness is dominanting? In my younger years, I leaned hard into a silver-lining kind of optimism—a “turn that frown upside down” faith. Christmas can draw out that sentimental impulse in all of us. But Scripture offers a more grounded and hopeful story. Isaiah declares, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” Notice that the light appears in the darkness, not apart from it. Honesty about the shadows in our own lives is often the first step toward seeing the light that God is already shining.
Looking for the light starts with an honest, unhurried assessment of our souls. John Mark Comer puts it this way: “To experience healing, we have to slow down long enough to feel what we usually outrun.” Perhaps the most countercultural practice in this season is to rest. To pause long enough to sit in God’s presence. To reflect on what is really happening inside us. Speed and noise are poison to the soul. Silence and stillness create space for light to break in.
The story of Scripture moves again and again from darkness toward light, and it finds its climax in Jesus. Hear God’s promise at the end of the biblical story: “There will be no more night… for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign for ever and ever.”Our future is secure not because we can manufacture hope, but because God is faithful.
So this Advent, let’s watch and wait together. Let’s resist the pressure to move faster, do more, or numb ourselves with noise. Let’s rest. Let’s reflect. And let’s trust that God meets us, not after the darkness lifts, but right in the middle of it.
