I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Psalm 139:11-12
What if the darkest place in your life isn’t dark at all for God?
At just 21 years old, Omer Shem Tov was abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. He was lowered 40 meters underground into a tunnel, unable to stand or stretch out his arms. For nearly 450 days he lived in total darkness. “There’s no shadows, nothing.” Yet it was there that he discovered something unexpected. He says, “It was precisely in this darkness that I found light.”
Each night before falling asleep, Omer said he would simply “start the conversation” with God. Instead of asking for things, he’d begin, “How are you, Dad? How was your day?” Then he thanked God for the air he had to breathe or half a slice of bread to eat. “I saw Him in front of me … my heart began to expand, and a smile came to my face.” Looking back, Omer said the closeness he experienced with God in that darkness is what he misses most.[1]
Centuries earlier, a king named David wrote these words to God: “I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you” (Psalm 139:11-12).
Maybe your darkness doesn’t look like a prison tunnel. It may be grief, fear, loneliness, unanswered prayers, or uncertainty. Whatever you’re facing today, it isn’t too dark for God. The darkness may hide tomorrow from you, but it never hides you from Him. As Omer discovered, no darkness is so deep that the light of God’s presence cannot find you.
[1] FIRM- Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries(@firmisrael), “Omer Shem Tov on Finding God in Captivity,” Instagram post, October 20, 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DQCXem_Ctv5/.
