And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 

Exodus 14:20-21

 

We have always thought of God as the God of Light. Jesus himself is the Light. We always associate light with God and darkness with the evil one.

However, when St. John of the Cross, a doctor of the Church says that God is a God of darkness, he has to have a reason for saying this. And as we look at this verse in Exodus, he does have a point.

The Jerusalem Bible comments that the Hebrew bible translates this as 'there was cloud and darkness and it lit up the night.' This was even a more profound description. How can darkness give off light?

If we look at how St. John of the Cross explained this, the passage becomes clearer.

He said that in our faith, God often blinds us from everything that is not him so that we can detach ourselves from them and remain focused on him through faith. This is what he called as the dark night of the senses. (There is another darker night of the soul which (I hope) will be another topic in the future. Some people use these two nights as if they are the same but they are totally different. The dark night of the senses increases our faith while the dark night of the soul increases our love.).

He also said that a man who is not blind will tend to rely on his sight - imperfect as it is. This will eventually lead him to fall. This reminds me of the Mr. Magoo cartoons where a near sighted Mr. Magoo always gets in trouble because of his poor eye-sight. But if a person is entirely blind, that person has no choice but to trust someone else.

Similarly in our faith, God blinds us - puts us in darkness so that we can detach ourselves from our senses and abilities. The Israelites probably were scared when the Lord was drying up the land. Imagine hearing the wind and the waves all night in the dark, knowing that the Egyptians were behind them, wanting to kill them and before them was strong winds and waves. Anywhere they go, they will surely be killed.

Yet, when morning came, they were probably surprised to find that the Lord has dried up the sea - and they could pass through it.

So in our faith, seeing brings us distractions. It blinds us to God. We see things that lead us away from God, but blindness of the senses allows us to see God - because by trusting in the Lord, we become united with him.

During this Season of Lent, let us then pray that we may learn not to trust our senses but instead, allow the Lord to blind us so that we can be united with him.