A Season of WaitingSample

Why so Dark?

This week, we celebrate light breaking through our darkness. Perhaps, a darkness of our own making.

In Isaiah 9, the prophet offers hope to a nation paying the price for their king’s stubborn arrogance. God had promised to protect King Ahaz from the threat of invasion and had even offered a sign to confirm His promise. Ahaz ignored God’s offer, brokering a deal with a nearby kingdom to do the protecting. Ahaz’s deal backfired and Judah was lost to the very nation Ahaz had paid to protect them. No wonder the people were so broken and consumed by darkness. What hopelessness; what a betrayal of trust.

In the last few verses of Isaiah 8, Isaiah portrays God’s judgement as a desolate, claustrophobic darkness. Total isolation. The absence of hope. A bleak and unrelenting night. It’s also clear that darkness was self-inflicted. Now, a few verses later, Isaiah looks to the horizon and reminds his people (and us) that dawn is coming. Freedom is near. God is promising to restore His people. How? A child, given by God, is on the way. The Messiah is coming (Isaiah 9:6).

What a relief! How welcome that promise must have been to the depleted and frustrated people of Judah. How impatient they must have been after years of darkness. How ready they must have been to accept God’s promises without question.

Our dawn is here in the birth of Jesus. May we celebrate His coming with hearts ready to accept His promises, assured that His light is stronger than any shadows in our lives.

Written by Dwayne Jeffries