Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
I am writing this before sunrise. The house is dark. The street outside is dark. There is one small lamp burning on my counter and it does not do much to push back the night. But it does something. It tells me where I am. It tells me I am not lost. It tells me the morning is coming even if I cannot see it yet.
Isaiah spoke these words to people who knew real darkness. The northern tribes of Israel had been conquered. The Assyrians had invaded. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali was under occupation. These were people living under the boot of an empire. They were not waiting for a cozy winter evening. They were waiting for rescue. And Isaiah told them that light was coming. Not a flicker. A dawn. Not a candle. A sun.
Matthew would later quote this verse and apply it to Jesus. And he did not apply it to Jesus in Jerusalem. He applied it to Jesus in Galilee. The very region Isaiah named. The place that had known the deepest darkness would be the first to see the light. God does not send His light to the comfortable places. He sends it to the hurting places. The places where hope has been taxed beyond its limit. The places where people have stopped looking up. That is where the light dawns. Not because the darkness deserves it. Because the people in it do.
I think about the darkness I have walked through. The seasons where prayer felt like talking to the ceiling. Where grief sat on my chest like a stone. Where I could not name what I needed but I knew I was not okay. In those seasons I did not need a sermon. I needed a lamp. I needed one small point of light to tell me which way the door was. God met me there. Not with a floodlight. With a candle. A verse that landed like a hand on my shoulder. A friend who showed up with groceries and did not ask me to perform wellness. A worship song that cracked something open in my chest.
That is how God works. He does not always remove the darkness all at once. He gives us enough light for the next step. And then enough for the one after that. And before we know it we have walked through the valley and come out the other side and we can look back and see that the light was there the whole time. We just could not see it until we were close enough.
On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
If you are in the dark right now I am not going to tell you to pretend it is bright. I am going to tell you this. The light is coming. It has already dawned. You may not see it yet. You may not feel it yet. But the God who sent His Son into the darkest corner of human history is the same God sitting with you in yours. Keep walking. One step. Then another. The dawn is closer than you think.
With the third candle burning and a small light in the hallway of my own heart, I am walking forward. Keep your eyes on the dawn. Claire