Out of the Darkness

From the time I moved into my office during grad school, I had a map of the world hanging on the wall.  But it wasn't your usual map.  It was a map of the world at night, a composite image of satellite photos taken over the course of time.  I've always had a fascination with maps ever since I was a child, but this one in particular always captivated me.  Maybe because I wondered what it meant for all those lights to be on at night - it meant people were working and living and doing, right?

But what of those places that had few, if any, little yellow dots indicating that electrical currents were flowing freely?  Was life happening for them?  Were they not able to work or were they merely working under the cover of darkness?

For some time now, I've been haunted by a particular concept in Scripture.  It seems I can't escape it and my thoughts often turn to it when I'm studying.  I first stumbled across the idea while doing one of Beth Moore's studies.  From there it has spawned a hundred different thoughts and caused me to trace the concept across the pages of God's Word, but I'm always left asking the same question:  What is the connection between work and darkness?

If you look in Leviticus 16:29-30, it says, "This is to be lasting ordinance for you:  On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work - because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you."  But connect the dots with me over to Luke 23:44 where it says, "It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two."  

You see, when the sun stopped shining, the Father and the Son went to work.  Atonement was being made for the people under the cover of darkness.  It's pitch black outside and now no one can work.  The only person working was the Son.

And from Genesis to Revelation, from the first page of the Bible to the very last, I think this concept holds true.  Now, I'm no Hebrew or Greek scholar, so I'm sure there is a lot to the language that I would need to really dig into to confirm this, but even without such academic understanding, it's still saying the same thing:  God goes to work when it's darkest.  Out of the darkness, God called forth the light when he formed the earth.  Out of the darkness, God caused a deep sleep to come over Adam and God went to work forming woman (Genesis 2:21-22).  Out of the darkness, God God brought a darkness over Abram and made a covenant with him (Genesis 15:12-21).  Out of the darkness, God sent his one and only Son to die on the cross, making the ultimate atonement for his people.

But it will be out of the darkness when God says I have no more need for you, no more need for darkness because I have completed the work I set out to do.  Revelation 22:4-5 says, "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light."   There will come a day when there will no longer be a need for darkness because the work of atonement will be finished.

I know I haven't seen the worst of the worst here in Africa, but I've seen enough to know that it's just on the other side.  And I wonder sometimes if God is working here.  I look into the faces of the people, and look into their eyes, and I wonder what hope they have.  I look out over the land where all I see is desperation and despair at times and I wonder how God is working in the face of it all.  I wonder if any work is being done on the Dark Continent.   

But then I remember that map of the world at night.  If we looked at the world based only on strength of light, Africa might as well not exist.  It's nothing but darkness except for a few small corners of it.   And as I ponder that map, I remember that God is a God who does his best work under the cover of darkness.  I think God is doing some of his best work in the darkness of Africa, an atoning work.  He's out to redeem his people - the orphans, the widows, the sick, the hungry, the poor.  Am I saying His work is being done exclusively in Africa and not elsewhere?  Of course not.  God cannot be so confined and I cannot be so foolish to believe that it is only in darkness that he works.

But whether darkness or light, I know God is working here.  Because there are 91 little orphans and 50 or so staff who are some incredibly bright lights in a very dark land.  They will be his hands and feet that go to work bringing the Light to this darkness.  

"Into marvelous light I'm running, out of darkness, out of shame..."