You’ve heard the saying: “It is always darkest before the dawn!”

Our world can be a dark place. And as the years pass, it appears to be getting darker. Our culture is less moral. Violence and hatred are increasing. It feels hopeless that pushing back against this darkness will do any good at all.

But, if the saying is true, the fact that the world is getting darker should actually fill us with hope. Because the darker it gets, the closer we are to the new day appearing.

Christ is closer to us now than the previous day; closer than the previous minute. The light of His reign comes closer with each moral code that’s abandoned, with every increase in calamity and vice. The more the enemy rears his head in victory, the closer to his demise we come.

But we should not give up hope and live in fear. No.

Today’s verse counsels us to rise as one does before the dawn and prepare for this new day. With every inch of territory the darkness takes, we should respond as soldiers of the light.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the darkness is a reason to hope. Rise up and declare the coming of the dawn.