As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. MICAH 7:7-8 (NLT)

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Michael Connelly’s Bosch novels frequently use light and darkness as prominent themes. The main character was a tunnel rat in Vietnam. This means he had the awful job of crawling into the claustrophobe’s nightmare of tight, suffocating, spaces where someone — you or the other guy — was going to die. 

It was in those tunnels where the only light you had was the flashlight you carried but dared not use to prevent being seen by the enemy. In those darkest of places, he discovered what he called lost light. Somehow, someway, light found a way to penetrate the darkness. In the darkest of places, in the darkest of times, he always looked for lost light. To say more would ruin your appreciation of this series of stories by a master storyteller.

In 1995’s A Little Princess, there is a scene that does not fade to black. Instead, it fades to light. This is contrary to most movie transitions. It was an intentional insertion by the director to get our attention. Every time I watch this movie, I am reminded how the end of the world will not fade to black. 

Micah speaks God’s words of coming judgment if the kings, leaders, and people do not repent of their idolatry and return to God. Even so, he points them to a time beyond their punishment and exile. Two chapters before, Micah wrote God’s promise, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judea. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come to you on my behalf,” (5:2). The coming darkness is merely the end of a scene and not the end of the world. The same can be said of our present darkness. 

With Micah, we can “look to the LORD for help.” Our promise-keeping God has told us how to live (Micah 6:8) in perilous times. In a world that cannot determine what good is, God tells us, “to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

With Micah, we can “wait confidently for God to save me.” Knowing how the world will end and that it all fades to everlasting light, we can endure encroaching darkness. Dark may do its worst, but the light will still shine and prevail (John 1:5). 

With Micah, we can be confident our Father in heaven hears every prayer: “my God will certainly hear me.” With Micah, we can most assuredly declare, “though I fall, I will rise again.” With Micah, we can enjoy the peace of God’s presence: “Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.”

Our God is our light. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world,” (Matt. 5:14-16). Today’s assignment (and every tomorrow’s)? Shine! Let people see Jesus in you and through you. Never fade to black.

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I will shine the light of Christ wherever I go, whatever I do.

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Our Father, light is your special creation. In the beginning, you said, “Let there be light.” You tell us we are the light to demonstrate your goodness, your righteousness, your love, and your mercy. May your light shine in us and through us today and every day. Use us to illuminate the way to live, really live in these darkening days. Amen.