Found in the Dark

December 2024 Devotional
The Hope of Advent: Jesus Meets Us in Our Darkness

“[Mary] gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room.” — Luke 2:7

Have you ever been lost in the dark before? I was once. The sun had gone down on our river rafting, and we had yet to see the turnout. I found myself on a random riverbank in the dark beside two other shivering teens without shoes, cellphones, or flashlights. Although I thought I knew the area, in the starlight, I found myself totally lost. There were no other voices, no cars, no road. Not only did I feel the responsibility to get us out of there, but also my total inability to do so. I huddled in the dark with the teens, trying to reassure them, although I was afraid. 

In Advent, we reflect on Jesus' incarnation as the hope that comes to find those who sit in darkness. Perhaps Mary was the first to fully experience this: exhausted, in pain, finding a place to lay her newborn. I imagine she squints in the dim light, leaning over to behold Jesus' face. Did that voice still echo in her mind: "We have no place for you?" God meets her not just in human like-ness but on a dark, difficult night.

We've all experienced a form of being lost in the dark. In our humanness, we experience despair, shame, self-rejection, isolation, oppression, and violence. But Advent reminds us: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5) Whether we are lost in a darkness of our own making or one forced on us, Jesus takes on humanity to use his own hands and feet in our rescue. 

What mystery! The divine Light of God puts on flesh and chooses to come find us in the dark.

I hear God's words to us again from Genesis 3, "Where are you?" But it isn't a harsh voice of shame. It's a loving promise of finding. And in finding: knowing. God seeks us out and becomes one of us so that we can know His Light and be known and thereby be set free.

Henri Nouwen once wrote: "The question is not 'How am I to find God?' but 'How am I to let myself be found by Him?'" 

Jesus became human so that he could truly come find you in the depths of the night. Where would you most like His hopeful Light to overcome darkness, for you or for others? What might you need to set aside or lay down so that you can allow Him space to sit with you? I invite you in this Advent season to trust and rest in the truth that God is seeking you out. 

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