See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:2-3

Is there anything darker than what the world is witnessing in the shocked and bewildered faces of the Japanese refugees who have lost everything?  Their homes and possessions, their livelihoods, their friends and family?

Is there anything worse than a mother describing how she lost her grip on her daughter’s hand, to watch her swept away in the waters?

Is there anything  thicker than the darkness that covers these stoic people with the deep despair of fear of the unknown, especially the potential of long term radiation exposure and spread?

As we watch the unending  pictures and videos from Japan there is realization we ourselves are not exempt from such catastrophe, never immune from a similar tragedy on our own soil.   It can happen here.  It has happened here.

There is something darker.  Darkest of all is separation from God.   There is no loss to compare with that abyss.

As Job said in the midst of his desperation, after he too lost everything, all at once:

“I know my Redeemer lives…”

He had lost everything,  but not that certainty.

And with that certainty, there is a new dawn.