The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 

Isaiah 9:2, NIV

“It’s darker than dark, mom,” my six-year-old son quipped as the lights went off in Shasta Caverns. If I put my hand in front of my face, I had no sense of its presence. 

Contrast that with a dark room in a house at night—I can sense my hand in front of my face and can figure out how find a light. In a dark cave I have only anxiety without hope. 

Isaiah describes the land where his people lived as one of deep darkness. Imagine life with nothing other than the ever-present darkness. Then imagine a great light appearing in that darkness. What a difference! 

The Israelites had been promised the light of a Messiah. But they had grown weary and were living in deep darkness, losing hope the Messiah would ever come. The Israelites were living in a world absent of the light of Christ, or so they thought. Hope in Christ was growing dimmer and darker. 

Isaiah is pointing the Israelites to Christ as the light in the darkness, stirring hope in them. As we remember Christ’s birth, let us be stirred to hope even as we live in anticipation. 

Prayer Guide:

1. Think of the darkness in your life. How can the anticipation of Christ’s return stir you to hope? 
2. Thank God for the birth of Christ and the hope you have even in times of “deep darkness.”