Afraid of the Dark

By Nicholai Stuckwisch

Almost every person at least at some point in their life is afraid of the dark.

Why?

After all, there is nothing there that wasn’t there when the light was on. Darkness doesn’t hurt. In fact, it’s when you turn on the light after you have been in the dark that your eyes hurt.

So why are we afraid of the dark?

I have come to the conclusion that we are afraid of the dark simply because there is no light. Without light we cannot see clearly. There are plenty of things for us to run into that we would notice easily when it is light.We need to rely on our own senses to guide us, but they are rendered nearly useless in the dark. We could make mistakes, lose things, bump into objects, step on that action figure our little brother left on the floor, and possibly end up hurting ourselves. We can do a lot of harm. People are afraid of the dark because when it is dark they are by themselves and realize that they must fend for themselves. No matter how brave we feel, it’s when we actually must rely completely on ourselves in a time of need that we realize how helpless we really are.

Now try and picture Christianity in that light/dark scenario. When you are in darkness, you are really in the absence of light: when you are in absence of God, you are by yourself, on your own. Because we’re sinful human beings, we Christians are still often trying to do things by ourselves, keeping them in the dark. As a result, we end up stumbling through life, making mistakes and sometimes hurting ourselves very badly. It is only when we “turn on the light” or stop trying to do things ourselves and let God handle it that we can feel safe. It is only when we repent, that is turn away from sin (darkness) back to God (light), that we are free to live without worry of the dark.

Bad things may still happen even when we are in the light. You can burn that cake in the oven even when the light is on. Rather then despair and turn back to the darkness because “nothing” is going right now anyway, we should look at all the good things that have happened. It’s a lot easier to deal with a burning cake in the light than in the dark. Furthermore, the cake may have burnt but you still have a delicious meal with amazing bread and wine (God’s body and blood) to have for supper. In other words, no matter how many mistakes we make while stumbling around in the dark, God promises to welcome us back in His light with open arms. That’s why we repent. Sometimes it hurts, but that pain you feel when the light comes on is the pain that comes with realizing you have done wrong. It lasts only a little while and is followed by joy of forgiveness.

You may have grown out of being afraid of the dark and look on it as a childish thing. Or maybe it’s that children have far less trouble depending on the light and not trying to do things themselves that they shouldn’t.We have a lot to learn from little kids.When they fear the darkness, they know better than to think they can face things themselves and so they call on the light. If they cannot reach it themselves, they call their parents to help them. It’s the grown-ups who want to deal with darkness by themselves, failing to call upon pastors and others for help. Jesus says the kingdom belongs to little children because little children, though they may be stubborn at times, know that they need God’s help and are a lot less worried about turning on the light than adults.

Nicholai Stuckwisch attends Emmaus Lutheran Church in South Bend, Indiana, and can be reached at thedrizzt007@gmail.com