Deepest darkness 

“It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.” – Job 10:22 CSB 

Job knew dark days. He describes it here in stark terms. Similar terminology is used at the end of Isaiah 8:20-22 to describe those apart from God.  

Perhaps you are familiar with darkness, despair, and depression. Maybe you know all too well the phrase from L.M. Montgomery’s beloved character Anne Shirley, “the depths of despair.” 

One of the most encouraging verses to me in all of Scripture is Psalm 139:12 which says, “Even the darkness is not dark to you.” There is no darkness to God. In fact, He Himself is the Light (1 John 1:5). The knowledge of God and his Word brings light – as it does to those dwelling in darkness in Isaiah 9:2, and for the psalmist in Psalm 119:105.  

Ultimately light is brought through the Messiah as Zechariah prophesies in Luke 1:77-79. This is why when God answers Job in chapter 38:19 He rhetorically challenges, “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness?” God knows there is no darkness in Himself and He brings the light.  

Are you in darkness today? May the light of our God, His Word, the illumination of the Spirit and the Light of the World, His Son, bring light to our darkness.  

Prayer 

“Father, I confess sometimes I feel like Job, depressed, gloomy, and lost in the darkness. Thank you that the darkness is not dark to You. Thank you that through the light of Your Word you bring to me the knowledge of the Light of the World, Your Son, Jesus. Amen.”