A Light in the Darkness

I don’t know if any of y’all are Lord of the Rings fans, but I grew up watching the Lord of the Ring movies, and more recently The Hobbit series.  And as I was watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in theaters, one scene really struck me and has stuck with me ever since.  In the movie, Gandalf is entering an “abandoned” castle called Dol Guldur, which he knows is “undoubtedly a trap.”  During the inevitable ensuing fight, Gandalf is surrounded by a huge cloud of black smoke, held at bay only by a sphere of his own white light.  As it comes at him, a voice comes out of the darkness to threaten that, “there is no light…that can defeat darkness.”

Now, as many of you may know, darkness and light are very important concepts in Christianity, and are often used to symbolize sin/evil and God, respectively.  Light and dark are also commonly used in movies, as seen here, to symbolize good vs. evil.  So that was really not new.  But what struck me while I was watching this scene was that when Gandalf first created his sphere of light, the light and darkness were approximately even in how much they drew your eye.  But as the darkness seemed to enclose around the light, forcing the sphere to become smaller, the sphere inexplicably seemed to be brighter by comparison.  The darker the scene became, the brighter the light shone.  Throughout this experience, I was reminded of our fight against brokenness and sin in our world today and I drew two conclusions from this.

First, there is so much darkness and evil out there that it often seems our light is small indeed.  But even in the darkest places, the light of Christ stands out even more strongly in the dark.  So when you are discouraged by the darkness around you, remember that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Second, in light of this knowledge, I would encourage careful consideration of where we choose to share Christ’s light.  We are called to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us.  Part of being good stewards is carefully considering where and how to use those gifts.  Now, let me be clear.  Anywhere that we share Christ’s light through our actions is going to be good and will have a positive effect.  But if you look at the room around you, (go ahead, look right now) there will be places that are darker than others.  The places that are not dark do not necessarily need light to illuminate them, while the shadowy places need the light more in order for what is in those places to be visible.  So it is with our world.  There are many places where Christ’s light is already known and is brightly burning.  That is a fantastic thing!  Though far from perfect, in America we are often in places where light is more abundantly present.  But I would ask that you prayerfully consider if God is calling you to places of greater darkness, where light is more desperately needed.  It is sometimes frightening to consider purposefully stepping into the darkness, but remember how a single candle can light up a dark space.  And also remember that God is with us no matter where we go.  Psalm 23:4 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  No matter where we go, God is always with us, and “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)!

So as we look at the world around us, it is tempting to see only darkness and struggle.  But be encouraged that the darker the atmosphere around us is, the brighter Christ’s light will shine.  And it will continue to shine in the darkness until Christ comes back again and we will all get to bask in that glorious light.