Not sure about you, but I fell into the “fear of the dark” category as a kid. Nightlights made things bearable in the house, but I was really creeped out when I was outdoors. (Truth: I still am, to an extent, even in my late 50’s.) That’s the physical dark…and then there’s a much deeper, blacker dark. Spiritual darkness.
Physical Darkness
I grew up on a farm with few neighbors and no outdoor illumination other than our post light. It was on a switch that Mom turned off each night before bed. Outdoors was really, REALLY dark at night unless there was a full moon.
Of course there are benefits to the pitch black aloneness of the rural Iowa countryside. No street lights shine through your bedroom window to keep you awake. Even though our house was along an oiled blacktop road traffic at night was almost nonexistent. Also, a clear night sky is amazing!
We tent-camped on the property in the summer of 2020 for a couple days and went without the rainfly on the tent the first night. I had difficulty falling asleep because I couldn’t stop looking at the stars. In the years since I’d grown up and moved away I had forgotten what that view was like.
But about the fear part – as a kid the dark always made me feel really uneasy and creepy. Hoot owls and coyotes were common nighttime sounds on the farm which likely contributed to my fear. Lying in bed one night I heard several coyotes cackling and thought it was thieves coming to rob us. It sounded like they were laughing, and at the same time the wind blew over a chair on our patio. I was sure we were doomed!
Or there was that time my parents had company over and we kids were all outdoors in the dark. Someone (not me) decided we should play Truth or Dare. Before you get too worried, there was no “suggestive” stuff happening here, but there were dares that required courage. The one that sticks in my mind was having to run all the way around Dad’s barn in the dark. This involved crawling over a couple cattle panels as well as slogging through some weeds and tall grass (likely home to numerous spiders though I didn’t think of that at the time). As I am the one typing here, it’s clear I survived the traumatic incident. I also did accomplish the dare. (Yay me!)
Even as an adult, I admit I’m creeped out by the dark especially in rural areas. It’s a difficult to describe – not so much outright fear that something will harm me but more of a deep, empty feeling. Lonely, and sad. I don’t like it. Yet I do love looking at the starry night sky and listening to all the sounds (even the coyotes now that I’m a grownup). Having people around me helps but I much prefer being in the daylight – the warm sun shining on me.
In terms of the physical dark, my fears are mostly baseless. I know that. Be cautious – yes. Fear the dark – no.
Spiritual Darkness
There’s different kind of darkness we should be very afraid of – spiritual darkness! Gotquestions.org defines it this way:
Spiritual darkness refers to all that is in opposition to the light of God’s love in Christ.
gotquestions.org (What is Spiritual Darkness)
Walking in spiritual darkness is living in rebellion to God. Those who live in rebellion, who reject Jesus’s sacrifice on their behalf, will spend eternity separated from God. The book of Jude refers to that place as “utter darkness”. As Christians, we are to be beacons of light to the unsaved world. Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Matthew 5:8
As a believer I desire to walk in the light of Christ who rescued me and put a new heart in me. I’m painfully aware that I’m not perfect this side of heaven – I still struggle with sin daily and I get discouraged at times. I’m thankful that God shined his light into my heart and pointed my sins out to me, and then he pointed me to the One who paid the debt for those sins so that I don’t have to. I tell God near daily that I need him every hour (remembering the old hymn). My desire IS to walk in the light.
The apostle John tells us:
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth
1 John 1:5-6, NLT
Over time, my heart is being changed and I no longer desire some things I used to enjoy. Things that were spiritual darkness. This encourages me. My hope is that God’s light would shine into the lives of my loved ones and friends and anyone who might read this post. That He would lift you out of spiritual darkness as well, and save you for all eternity through Christ, who said:
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
And, if you are a believer, my hope is that His Spirit would encourage your heart with the truth that you are in the light. Walk in that light!
