“If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Psalm 139:11-12)
Are you afraid of the dark? It is easy to feel afraid at night, isn’t it? The dark makes everything look a little bit different. When Eileen was a little girl, she used to worry that there was a robber or maybe even a bear hiding in her closet. Eileen sometimes felt afraid that her toys would come to life after she went to sleep! Things that she and her family would laugh about during the day would start to seem very real and frightening when the sun went down and things got dark.
God is not afraid of the dark. These verses from Psalm 139 tell us that He can see just as well in the dark as He can in the light! In fact, night is just as bright as day to Him. Nothing can be hidden from Him, not even in the darkest dark. And that includes you!
Did you know that fear is a sin? God does not want His children to be controlled by fear (Romans 8:15; 2 Timothy 1:7). Fear takes our minds off the powerful, loving God who is greater than anything that could ever hurt us. If you are God’s child, you could trust Him to take care of you, even if there really were a robber or a bear in your room!
Next time you get ready to go to sleep, ask your mom, dad, brother, or sister to read Psalm 139 to you right before the light goes out. Then lie there and think about what it says. God is with you all the time. He is with you in the dark. He sees you. He knows your fears. He wants you to turn away from your fears and think about Him. He wants you to learn to trust Him–even in the dark.
God sees you and takes care of you in the dark.
My Response:
» Am I trusting God to take care of me when I lie down to sleep at night?
» When I do feel afraid, what are some ways I can remind myself of God’s watchful care over me?