The Angel’s Song: Finding Our Way to the Christ Child – The Light of Christ in a Dark Time and Place
By Martha Robison
Week 4, Day 23  |  December 21

God said…“light up the darkness! And our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.”
II Corinthians 4:6 (The Message)

In 1993 I spent a few months in Somalia as a medical volunteer.

A young Muslim man served as my interpreter. It was a dark time in that country as a savage civil war raged around us. There was no electricity to light the nights, schools were closed, churches razed: no light for hearts and minds. Starvation, illness and paralyzing fear was everywhere. Darkness reigned in my young friend’s life, or so it seemed, but God was at work.

One day as we bumped along the rutted roads in a pick-up truck on our way to a village where we would distribute food and hold a medical clinic, he showed us a ragged, dirty copy of the Gospel of John. He was careful to be sure no one was looking because he could have been killed just for owning a part of God’s Word. Christian volunteers were forbidden to “evangelize” but were permitted to answer questions. So for the rest of that day, we answered his questions. He had many questions, finding it hard to believe that God loved him! He asked Jesus into his life a few days later and in that dark place he was “filled up with light” as he began to see “and understand God in the face of Christ.” Light is in dark places because God is at work! Praise Him this Advent season.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Be the light that shines in the darkness for me today. May we see in all the lights and glitter of the season the face of Christ … bright and beautiful. Amen.


Martha Robison has been a member of First Baptist since 2007 and serves a deacon. She and her husband, Dr. Harold Spangler, live at Abbotswood in Greensboro.