We read in Isaiah 42:16: I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.
What does it mean to turn darkness into light? It means being able to understand the dark things in life with a different perspective, a bigger view, and a deeper understanding.
Take the concept of pain and suffering. Before the coming of Jesus, such incidents in life were looked upon as punishments. But Jesus took those same human conditions, and taught his followers to find the pearl of great price hidden beneath the field of human misery. He showed us that nothing that happens to us is sterile, let along a punishment. He invites us to surrender to his message, in order to see the light hidden in the darkness.
It is interesting to note that Isaiah doesn't say, I will lead them out of darkness into light, but I will turn darkness into light. This implies that darkness is not something we can dispel forever. It will visit and haunt us throughout our lives. It is for us to grapple with it, and in that struggle, find the jewel it offers.
John Tauler says that being drawn to God through sorrow is a safer way than [being drawn] through joy. This in itself is a hard saying, but the meaning is clear. No pain or suffering need be fruitless. There is, in the Divine plan, a way to turn all darkness into light. For those of us who are Christians, it means being able to see things differently, to look beyond the superficial and realize there is a lesson to be learned, a grace offered, a moment of self-reflection to be gotten from this setback.
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