Dan Kuiper
  • Home
    • Blog/Vlog
    • Memes to Share
    • Contact
  • About Dan
    • Interviews
    • Video Favorites
    • Kuiper's Corner
  • Resources
  • Speaking
    • Finding Father's Love Events
    • Feedback
    • Topics
    • Speaker Request Form
    • Schedule
  • Coaching
  • Donate

4 Things Jesus Does When Life is Dark

11/13/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
As a young child I learned that God was light. He not only created light, He was light. I remember singing with my Sunday School classmates, "The Light of the World is Jesus." I recall getting a gold star for reciting the first verse of Psalm 27: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Problem is, I didn't see God that way. My mind could not convince my heart that it was true. In my world, God was sometimes light. But most times He was dark.

I used to pray every night as a child, "God, please make my dad stop drinking." And, once in a great while, my dad would come straight home after work instead of first stopping at the bar. We would do something fun as a family. We would talk and laugh and actually enjoy each others' company. The light of God's love would shine brightly.

Then there were all the other nights. Nights I pressed my hands over my ears so I wouldn't hear the drunken rants. Nights I found safety under the bed from the boogeyman that was my father. Nights my pillow was drenched with tears as I pleaded with God to make the insanity stop.

If God was light, why was I seeing only an occasional glimmer?

I've always had an aversion to physics. But, even as a child, I could understand four things that light does:

  1. It illuminates. It makes things clear and easier to understand.
  2. It dispels darkness. Every morning, as the sun begins to rise, darkness dissipates.
  3. It exposes what is hidden. Light helps us find things in the darkness.
  4. It guides our path. Sunlight, headlights, flashlights--all help us to find our way.

As I pondered this as an adult on one particularly dark day, the light went on. I came to understand that when Jesus refers to Himself as the Light of the world, this is what He is saying:

  • I have come to illuminate. The moment Jesus came to earth He was seen as a source of illumination. In heralding Jesus' birth, the Apostle John proclaimed, The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world (Jn. 1:9). Jesus was born to bring clarity into lives of all who believe. If there was one thing I needed as a child and still need as an adult, it's clarity. If I am grow in a trusting relationship with God, I need to be clear on exactly who He is.

  • I have come to dispel darkness. Jesus said it Himself, I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness (Jn. 12:46). Jesus came to turn our darkness into day, to  dispel the night. The simple truth is, light and dark cannot coexist. That is true not only in relation to physics. It's true in relation to Jesus. I may still experience dark nights of the soul. But no matter how overcast my spirit, God's light still shines brightly above the clouds.

  • Jesus came to expose what is hidden. John writes, This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed (Jn. 3:19-20). When I allowed God's ever-present light to shine in the dark corners of my life, it brought to light the things I had spent much of my life trying to hide: my fears, my insecurities, my resentments, my doubts, my lack of faith. And do you know something? I discovered that even when God knew all my secrets He loved me anyway!

  • Jesus came to guide our path. Before He went back to heaven, Jesus stated the obvious--at least in terms of physics: The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going (Jn. 12:35). But He meant for that truth to be applied to our spiritual lives.

Another verse I remember memorizing as a child is Psalm 119:105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. When my dad's alcoholism threatened my very existence and I was frightened and fearful, not knowing what the future held, I wanted to Jesus to be a floodlight. I wanted to see Him everywhere around me. I wanted to know every twist and turn of the path that lay ahead.

But since becoming an adult, I've come to realize that Jesus is more of a candle. Most times, He doesn't shine so brightly that I know exactly where life's journey is taking me. Instead, all He gives me is just enough light for the next step.

Turns out that is all I needed. That is all any of us need. Knowing that the Light of the world is at our side. That He will make things clear in His time. That His
light will always shine, whether we see it or not. That He will tenderly expose what we try so hard to hide and will love us anyway. That He will guide us day by day, moment by moment, step by step, on a journey that is guaranteed to have the happiest of endings.  
1 Comment
Julie Arnold link
3/20/2021 07:03:15 pm

Very thoughttful blog

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Free eBook!

    Join My Mailing List
    For Email Marketing you can trust.
    Picture
    Sign up above to receive my blog posts via email and get a free copy of my ebook, 5 Steps Toward Trusting God.
    Privacy Guarantee: Your email will not be shared with anyone else.
    Picture

    Archives

    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    12-step Group
    12-step Groups
    12 Steps
    A.A.
    Abandonment
    Abuse
    Acceptance
    Addiction
    Adversity
    Affirmation
    Alcoholics Anonymous
    Alcoholism
    Anger
    Approval
    Baggage
    Behavior
    Bible
    Bitterness
    Blessing
    Bondage
    Boundaries
    Brokenness
    Burdens
    Busyness
    Celebration
    Change
    Childhood
    Children
    Choices
    Christian
    Christianity
    Christians
    Christmas
    Church
    Codependence
    Commitment
    Compassion
    Confession
    Confidence
    Control
    Courage
    Criticism
    Dad
    Death
    Debt
    Dependence
    Depression
    Direction
    Discouragement
    Discrimination
    Divorce
    Drugs
    Dysfunction
    Emotions
    Encouragement
    Epitaph
    Eternal Life
    Eternity
    Failure
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Father
    Fatherlessness
    Fathers
    Father's Love
    Father Wound
    Father Wounds
    Fear
    Feelings
    Fishers Of Men
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Friend
    Friends
    Frustration
    Gang
    Goals
    God
    God's Love
    God's Plan
    Good Works
    Grace
    Gratefulness
    Grief
    Guilt
    Happiness
    Healing
    Heavenly Father
    Honesty
    Hope
    Hopeless
    Hopelessness
    Humility
    Hypocrite
    Inspirational
    Integrity
    Intimacy
    Jesus
    Joy
    Knowledge
    Light
    Listening
    Loss
    Love
    Marriage
    Miscarriage
    Mission
    Mission Statement
    Motivation
    Overcome
    Parenting
    Past
    Peace
    Perfectionism
    Personality
    Politics
    Prayer
    Pretending
    Prevention
    Pride
    Prison
    Problems
    Protect
    Purpose
    Recovery
    Redwoods
    Relapse
    Relationship
    Relationships
    Responsibility
    Rest
    Restore
    Role Model
    Safe
    Safety
    Savior
    Security
    Self-care
    Self-confidence
    Self-esteem
    Self-help
    Self-worth
    Serenity
    Sex
    Sexual Abuse
    Shame
    Sin
    Sobriety
    Solitude
    Sorrow
    Spirituality
    Strength
    Strengths
    Stress
    Submission
    Substance Abuse
    Success
    Suffering
    Support
    Surrender
    Tears
    Teen Pregnancy
    Thanksgiving
    Tinnitus
    Touch
    Transformation
    Trauma
    Trials
    Trust
    Truth
    Value
    Willpower
    Words
    Worry

    Helpful Sites

    National Center For 
    Fathering


    Focus on the Family

    The Crucible Project

    FamilyLife

    Minirth Clinic 

    New Leaf Resources

    Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend 

    Find a Christian Counselor 

    FamilyFire

    Minirth Clinic 

    New Leaf Resources

    Find a Christian Counselor 

    Center for Marriage and Family Therapy

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from MizGingerSnaps, uzi978, vhines200, Daquella manera, seanmcgrath, Tony Webster, Thragor, maiallen, AllieKF, aaron_anderer, theilr, Lordcolus, bobchin1941, Disney | ABC Television Group, AK Rockefeller, wbaiv, dan taylor, SuperFantastic, Neal., Pink Sherbet Photography, denise carbonell, psflannery, DonkeyHotey, Nick.Baumgartner91, Hello Turkey Toe, faceleg, keepitsurreal, eek the cat, simpleinsomnia, sun dazed, oranges.lemons, John Englart (Takver), tlindenbaum, garryknight, Patrick Hoesly, Ricymar Photography (Thanks to all the fans!!!!), Furryscaly, bradleypjohnson, woodleywonderworks, gwegner.de, KristinNador, steve p2008, DeeAshley