“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” (Malachi 7:8-9). There’s this story that Leo McGarry tells on The West Wing. “This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you! Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me. Can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.’" When we fall in the hole and we’re sitting in the dark, Jesus is the friend that will jump down into the hole with us, because He’s been there before and He knows the way out and He will bring us forth to the light once more. When we are in the dark, it is easy to give into despair and to genuinely believe that there is no goodness left in this world, not for us anyway. And even if we swallow our pride and let go of our anger and resentment and take the Lord’s hand and allow Him to lead us out of the hole, it is not always an easy and a straightforward path. But although in the darkness we were blind, yet through Christ’s amazing grace and by His light we will see the righteousness and the goodness of the Lord. However many times we fall into the hole, whether we keep forgetting to watch where we’re going, or other people push us in, or we stupidly keep thinking we’re going to find something down there that’s just never there no many how times we jump in, Christ will jump in after us every single time and He will show us the way out. Getting back to the light is worth every effort. As easy as it is to believe that nothing is possible and nothing matters when we are in the dark, it is even easier to believe in the infinite power and goodness and miracles of God when we are in the light. Christ is a light unto us and He will bring us forth to the light that we may behold His righteousness. I hope that whenever we find ourselves in darkness, we will always follow Him back to the light.
