Longing for light

Jane Denniston June 24, 2026 2 0

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Psalm 69: 7-18 (NIV-UK)

7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
    and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family,
    a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
    I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
    people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
    and I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But I pray to you, Lord,
    in the time of your favour;
in your great love, O God,
    answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
    do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
    from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
    or the depths swallow me up
    or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
    in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
    answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
    deliver me because of my foes.

St John of the Cross, the 16th Century priest and mystic, coined the phrase, “The dark night of the soul”, but I think the psalmist might have recognised the darkness it describes and I am sure that we each have our memories of times when life was bleak and God seemed distant. For the psalmist, this dark night is worse because it is his faith in God that has brought him to this point where all have turned against him, and so he cries out to God in despair and desperation.

Once, in one of my own dark nights, I cried out to God in despair and desperation. There was no obvious response from God, except that it was as if a little candle was lit in the midst of the darkness. It wasn’t big enough, or strong enough, to banish the dark but it signalled for me the rebirth of hope. I would have to endure the dark time, but God would lead and guide me through it and I could have faith that the darkness would end and dawn would come. Coming out the other side, the dark time became bittersweet in my memory as a difficult time in my life, yet I knew that God was with me.

Prayer:

Faithful God,

thank you for your light in the darkness

even when we cannot see it.

Thank you for the hope of the dawn

even when we cannot feel it.

Thank you for your presence with us

even when we do not know it.

Thank you that the darkness does not endure

but that you have overcome it.

Help us to trust, when the darkness seems to overwhelm us,

That you will bring us back into the light of full day, Amen