by Desiree Bustamante

The darkness of the world can overwhelm our hearts.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
    They have no idea what they are stumbling over.”
Proverbs 4:19 New Living Translation

This world glamorizes the dark things of this world, and many people are drawn to the dark arts hoping to find meaning in death and proof of an afterlife. They think participating in occult practices or seeking a special message from a deceased loved one through a psychic will give them the answers they seek about death. Yet this doesn’t lessen the fear in their hearts, because once they no longer feel in control of the darkness, every corner of their soul is filled with despair and longing for light.

Satan has blinded their eyes to the truth, so it’s impossible for them to see the light of Christ’s love and hope in their darkness.

“But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”
Matthew 6:23 New Living Translation

As Christians, we may think that we are not vulnerable to this kind of darkness, but we all have dark places in our hearts that we haven’t surrendered to our Lord to forgive and heal. While they might be so hidden that we try to fool ourselves and the world that the darkness doesn’t exist, God knows every inch of our hearts. He knows how vulnerable we are to wandering far from the life God gave us and into the temptation of walking toward the darkness of sin.

Yet His sacrifice for us opens the heavens to overpower the darkness and drench us in His light…

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado