The Love of Darkness

I still remember the day I visited a cave in Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia. It was my first time, along with my father and my one-year-old son. My husband had been there before and knew what to expect.

The guide led us carefully down into the cave, warning us to watch our steps. Light fixtures guided our descent until we reached the deepest chamber. Once everyone was gathered, the guide told us to stay still. Then he turned off all the lights.

The darkness was absolute — a pitch-black void I had never experienced before. It was so complete it paralyzed me. A recorded voice explained that this was true darkness: the total absence of light. After about thirty seconds, the lights returned. The relief was immediate. I could finally move again and see my son’s face.

That moment taught me something powerful: darkness can be terrifying, but it also conceals.

At night, evil often finds its cover. A burglar slips into a closed shop. A gang meets for sinister purposes. A person flees from a violent home. The darkness of night has long provided the perfect hiding place for deeds people do not want exposed. If no one can see us, we think, no one can judge us.

Even a small amount of light changes everything. A dimly lit room is enough to apply makeup or walk to the bathroom without tripping, yet not bright enough to reveal every flaw or detail. The smallest source of light weakens the power of total darkness.

Today, however, we live in a world that no longer bothers to wait for nightfall. Spiritual darkness has grown so bold that evil no longer hides. We see it openly — in the news, on our streets, and in the headlines from every nation. Humanity’s deeds have become brazen.

The Apostle John explained this long ago:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

The Light they reject is Jesus Himself. He declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

In a world without a moral compass, those who come to Jesus first see themselves as they truly are — sinners in need of grace. His light exposes our filthy rags of self-righteousness. But it does more than expose: it cleanses, guides, and transforms. Step by step, He leads us. He fills us with His own life as we believe in Him.

The love of darkness is ultimately the love of evil. But those who come to the Light receive light themselves. They become beacons of truth in a pitch-black world.

So let your light shine boldly — because the darkness has never been darker, and the world has never needed it more.

God Is

God Is

I still remember an afternoon in my parents’ kitchen when I asked them to explain how God could have always existed. I was about seventeen years old and had been wrestling with the concept of eternity—how God could have no beginning when everything else I knew did.

My mother tried her best to answer my questions, but for every explanation she offered, I came back with another “logical” objection. Eventually, she sighed and simply said that she believed God had always existed, and that was all she could confidently tell me. 

At the time, I thought it was an easy way out of my endless questioning. At least, that is what I thought then. Now, decades later, I look back and realize that “believing” is actually one of the hardest answers to give.

We often say that we believe, but true belief is deeper than mere agreement. Sometimes, what we call belief is little more than probability or wishful thinking. We acknowledge something as possible, yet hesitate to entrust ourselves fully to it.

I am often reminded of the father who brought his afflicted son to Jesus. When Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes,” the father immediately replied, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). What an honest confession. He believed, yet he also recognized the weakness of his faith.

Perhaps that is true of all of us. Genuine faith is not something we can manufacture through effort or intellect. God Himself must work in our hearts, transforming unbelief into faith. Scripture tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Even our ability to believe is ultimately a gift of God's grace. What an extraordinary God we have!

And so, when it comes to God's existence, no scientific proof or philosophical argument can fully explain Him. God simply is. He always has been, and He always will be. He exists in a category entirely His own—beyond the limits of human understanding and comprehension.

As a good Irish friend of mine often says, “It’s mind-boggling!” And he is right. It is mind-boggling. Yet that should not trouble us. The infinite God was never meant to fit neatly within the boundaries of our finite minds.

We do not need to understand everything about His existence. We are called to trust Him. Faith does not answer every question, but it anchors us to the One who is beyond all questions—the One who simply is.

God is.