Wisdom 17:2. "For when lawless men supposed that they held the holy nation in their power, they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night, shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence." This is part of Solomon's description of the ninth plague, the darkness that the Egyptians suffered while refusing to let the Israelites go. I wrote about this with regard to the COVID lockdowns and response in Fear is the Surrender of the Help of Reason, and I still think about that a lot. The plague of darkness is one we really have all just gone through in one way or another and, to a significant degree, are still in. But today I am thinking of how this verse describes the darkness we must go through to remedy our hubris (there was plenty of hubris during COVID, but there is plenty of hubris all the time!).

When we think we are in control, especially over another person or persons, we are setting ourselves up for this darkness of soul. Yes, God lets us get away with it sometimes, and our control may last a good while before it fails. I think this is because God is letting our pride and hubris grow, He is letting us become complacent in it, so we will truly reflect on it when we find ourselves in the darkness. This happens frequently at the nation-state level. We had slavery in America, and suffered a horrific civil war that forced us to reflect on that evil. I would argue the United States, and much of the world, is suffering the beginnings of a necessary darkness now due to the evil of abortion and other ways we are hurting our children; failing to see them as children of God, and rather as our own possessions or creations.

But this also happens on a personal level. A few years ago, I was forced to confront it in myself. I did not realize how I had been taking other people in my life for granted. I had to go through a period of darkness in order to see what I was doing, and how I needed to let go of the control I felt I needed over my life and others' parts in it.

These periods of darkness, though painful, are the very things that teach us to see what we are doing or have done, and to repent and change. Before the darkness, we are living by the light of our own pride and control. As long as nothing seems to be wrong, we can be blind to how we are treating others, or the effect we are having on them. This is especially true if those we are hurting are people who love us, and are trying to please us, so they do not complain or point out what we are doing. Paradoxically, it is in the darkness that we finally begin to see ourselves and others in the true light of how God sees us. It is often not pretty, but it is the first step to change.