When I was a kid my parents took us on a tour of a cavern in South Dakota. At one point during the tour, the park ranger warned us that she was going to turn off the lights for about 30 seconds. To an eight–year-old the prospect of being in a cave 2000 feet below the surface in total darkness was terrifying, but it got worse.

After the ranger turned off the light, she asked everyone to call out once each person could begin to see their hand, like you can in your bedroom at night when your eyes adapt to the darkness of night.

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Within a few seconds several people began to holler that they could see the silhouette of their hand, and I too could start to see the vague outline of my little hand right in front of my nose. Except for one thing. I really couldn’t.

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The ranger began to explain that we were in an environment of no light whatsoever. There was no ambient light like being in a bedroom at night or outside under the moonlight. There was nothing, zip, no light at all. Then she went on to explain that in the absence of light, the mind will begin to fill in the blanks and create images in our brains that aren’t really there.

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Then came the kicker. She told us that if she left the lights on for more than 30 minutes we would all begin to see hallucinations, and after 24 hours, insanity would start to set in. “Turn the lights on!” I shouted, and in her mercy, she flipped on a flashlight. 

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As my heart raced, I have never been so glad to see that tiny beam of light. Sanity restored. Now I really could see my hand. The miracle, at least to a little boy, was that it only took that little ray of light from her flashlight to dispel the overwhelming power of total darkness. The little light brought hope, sight, a way out and restored the peace shattered by the power of the blackness. 

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As I reflect back on the terrifying few seconds, it became one of the most profound moments in my spiritual development. In Jesus' famous dialogue with Nicodemus in John 3, he said this: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people 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 their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

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Did you catch the sad truth that Jesus stated? “...but people loved the darkness instead of the light because their deeds are evil.” That’s nuts! Total darkness is terrifying. Like the ranger said, after a while it brings delusions and eventually insanity. 

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But isn’t the same principle true spiritually? Nothing good comes from spiritual darkness. But people love it? How can that be? It’s no coincidence that God’s first words were, “Let there be light.” No question he was talking about physical light, but I believe he was equally talking about spiritual light. God was showing us that He was going to shine light into the darkness of our existence. 

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The question is, do we prefer darkness, even subtly? Do we do things in the shadows hoping that God won’t see? Take a look deep into the recesses of your heart and mind and let the light shine in.

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