Can anything good come out of pitch blackness? Normally when one hears this phrase we think of negative thoughts. But as with everything in life the perspective we view things from makes all the difference. For example, a pessimist views the cup as half empty while an optimist views the same cup as half full. Or what about the atheist who views death as the end of life while the Christian views death as a new beginning.
And when it comes to pitch blackness do we view it as a state of no light to be feared or the canvas that allows us to view the brilliant stars of the night. I love how Evangelist Paul Washer states: “It is only against the pitch blackness of the night that we see the glory of the stars. And it is only against the pitch blackness of man’s radical depravity that we can begin to see the glories of the gospel.”1
Indeed, man’s total depravity, before coming to Christ, is pitch black. But this condition, as black as it can be, only serves to make the light of the gospel that much brighter. And as dark as man’s sin nature is, when God shines His brilliant spotlight on man’s darkened heart there can be no place to hide because the light of the Holy Spirit can penetrate even the darkest of human hearts. At that moment we can either hide from this light or allow it to penetrate us and convict us of our sin and save our soul.
It is well known that one of Johannes Gutenberg’s motivations for inventing the movable type printing press in the 1400’s, was to be able to print and distribute the Bible around the world. For Gutenberg understood that without the light of the gospel mankind was doomed to live in total darkness. In commenting on this contrast between darkness and light Gutenberg once said: “Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men.”2
So, the next time you think of the blackness of sin remember that it is no match for the brilliant light of the precious gospel of Christ!
1 Inspirational Quotes by Paul Washer (bibleportal.com)
2 Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. (London: Richard Bentley, 1854), 334.
When Pitch Blackness Meets the Light of Christ
…by The Tempered Apologist.
Mr. Blattman asks whether anything good can come out of pitch blackness. Most of us don’t even ask the question; we just flinch. Darkness feels unsafe, unnerving, and out of control. Yet Scripture and experience both tell us this: that blackness is not the final word, and it is not wasted when Christ steps into it.
Pitch blackness is usually seen as negative, but perspective changes everything.
Devoted believers can walk through deep darkness.
The blackness of sin is more familiar than we like to admit.
Pitch blackness is not just “out there” in a hostile world. It is the natural color of the human heart apart from Christ. We know that darkness too well: the secret habit we excuse, the bitterness we nurture, the compromise we dress up as “wisdom.” Sin feels normal until the Light shows up. Then we finally see that what we called “gray” was, in fact, pitch black.
Human depravity is pitch black, and that makes the gospel blaze brighter.
Faith born in the light is developed in the dark.
Mr. Blattman is correct. Our radical depravity is the backdrop that makes the gospel blaze. When the Spirit of God shines His searchlight into that inner night, there is nowhere left to hide. We either run from the light to protect our darkness, or we yield to it and let the Lord expose, wound, and then heal. The blackness that once hid us becomes the very contrast that shows the beauty of Christ’s mercy.
The Holy Spirit’s light exposes every corner of the dark heart.
The danger is trying to light our own fire.
There is another kind of darkness: not the darkness of rebellion, but the darkness of confusion.
Sometimes God’s people love Him, fear Him, obey Him…and still find themselves walking through a season where the lights go out. The job disappears. The child wanders. The diagnosis lands. The prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling. You’re not playing with sin, and yet your world has gone dim.
That kind of darkness does not mean you’ve been abandoned. It means your faith is being developed: the type of faith born in the light gets stretched, deepened, and toughened in the dark. When the lights go out, you discover whether you were resting on explanations or on God Himself.
So what do we do when pitch blackness closes in?
First, refuse to rewrite your theology in the dark.
Don’t let nighttime redefine what you knew was true at noon. Christ is still risen. The cross is still enough. The Spirit is still present. God’s character is not on trial just because you cannot see the path for the next ten feet.
Second, keep doing in the dark what you learned in the light.
Keep opening the Word even when it feels dry. Keep praying even when the only prayer you can manage is, “Help me.” Keep gathering with believers even when you feel fragile and out of place. Obedience is not a mood. It is a response of love to a faithful God.
Third, resist the urge to light your own fire.
When God allows darkness, we are quick to grab a flame of our own making: a hasty decision, a fleshly escape, a compromise that “gets results.” It feels like relief, but it is just a small, greasy fire that blinds more than it guides. Better to stand still with God in the dark than to sprint ahead by the light of your own matches.
Finally, remember that every night has a morning.
The blackness of sin and suffering are both real, but neither is sovereign. The cross is God walking into our midnight. The empty tomb is God announcing that the night cannot hold Him. For the believer, even the darkest season is temporary.
Joy really does come in the morning. Sometimes it breaks first as a single morning star of hope before the full sunrise.
Pitch blackness is not always a friend of sin. It is the stage where the holiness and grace of Christ are seen most clearly in contrast.
The darkness you hate may be the backdrop God is using to show you how strong, how steady, and how unstoppable His light really is.
When God turns off your lights, He is not punishing your eyes. He is training them to trust His fire more than your own nightlight.
(Thank you Curt!)