“When I said, darkness will surely trample me down, then to my great joy, night was luminous.” Psalm 138:11, LXX
“The Lord said that He would dwell in thick darkness.” 1 Kings 8:12
The growing darkness closes in
like some thick fog.
engulfing me –
a creeping horror –
till I learned,
“the darkness hideth not from Thee.”*
. . .
“The earth was without form
and void.”
Upon the deep
such darkness lay:
O Light, Who first created light,**
do Thou the same
today!
. . .
As in a darkened room
one knows –
knows without sight –
another there,
so, in the darkness,
sure I knew
Thy presence,
and the cold despair,
formless and chaotic, merged
to a soft glory;
as a child
terrified by dark,
lies quiet
within his mother’s arms,
no wild
fears shall torment,
The dark – the dark –
Surrounds me still.
But so dost Thou!
*Psalm 139:12
**Genesis 1:2-3
from “Sitting by My Laughing Fire” by Ruth Bell Graham