No Darkness Dims His Light

By Dr. Bruce C. Swaffield

The recent events in Paris make us keenly aware of the evil that threatens not only our very lives, but our souls as well. When tragedy strikes we turn to God for strength, understanding and hope. What we need to do, above all, is to remember these words from the hymn My Hope is Built on Nothing Less by Edward Mote: “When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace.”

We cannot allow the darkness of this world, however evil and sinister it may be, to keep us from seeing the true light of the world. Far beyond the deaths and injuries of hundreds of persons, there is hope. Hope for those who have perished. Hope for those who are in critical condition. Hope for those who need healing and consolation. Hope for those of us who want peace. Even hope for people who right now want revenge and retaliation.

Naturally, we ask where was God was on that horrific and dark night in Paris, fondly known as the City of Lights. Why didn’t he prevent the senseless murders and injuries? Why didn’t he intercede and stop the assassins and suicide bombers? Why did he let evil triumph?

But that is where we are wrong. Evil did not win, for we know that God has the last and final word in all things. We know, too, that God always is the victor. He proclaimed it more than 2,000 years ago when his son was murdered on a cross. No doubt Mary, Martha, John and dozens of others were asking the same questions we ask today: “Where was God?” “Why didn’t he do something?”

He did! He raised Jesus from the dead and gave salvation to people through the ages and throughout the world. God’s “unchanging grace” was sure and steady then just as it is today. Since the time of Adam and Eve, he promised that a savior would one day be born to bring light and forgiveness to all who would believe. In his Concise Commentary of the Book of John, Matthew Henry said that “Christ is the Light of the world. God is light, and Christ is the image of the invisible God. One sun enlightens the whole world; so does one Christ, and there needs no more. What a dark dungeon would the world be without the sun! So would it be without Jesus, by whom light came into the world” (John 8:12-16).

We must never permit the dark deeds of some to blot out or extinguish the one great light of the universe. In him, rests our hope and in us rests his grace.