Press the play button to watch the video above or press 'more' to read the transcript of the daily devotion below. Please read John 17 (use your own Bible or use the link above to access the in-App Bible).

‘You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.’ Psalm 88:6

Darkness is part of everyone’s story. As a boy I was an Air Cadet and we were once taken to an old RAF bunker deep underground, and then the lights were all turned off… that was dark. At other times in my life I’ve also had periods of real hardship, and in a way that time was also dark.

Darkness is part of everyone’s story. On this night Jesus underwent the ‘darkness’ of Gethsemane and the ‘darkness’ of His arrest and incarceration. When you visit the Holy Land you can visit the underground prison beneath Caiaphas’, the High Priest’s, home where Jesus is believed to have been held the night of His arrest. It is a deep, dark pit (v.6) and this psalm is one Jesus very likely meditated on whilst he was imprisoned there.

Darkness is part of life for the Christian, for the Christian follows the way of the cross. As we go with Jesus through the darkness of the next few days, remember that darkness does not win. As with all of Scripture, Jesus fulfils Psalm 88. Verse 3 points us to Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest as he stepped into the darkness on our behalf. The night He spent in the pit was only the beginning of all that He would endure for us. He felt the full weight of God’s wrath at the cross in our place (v.7). He too was abandoned by His closest friends (v.8). Christ took on the curse of death, the darkest of all pits. He went through all of this for us.

So whomever you are, whether someone doing ‘well’ or someone who is struggling just to get through the week… know that God is with you. He has been through it, in the Person of Jesus, as Psalm 88 reminds us. There is darkness in this world, but it is not the end of the story. Hold on, the light is coming!

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank you that You know what it is to go through times of darkness. Please hold on to me and bring me out into Your marvellous light. Amen.

The Revd Michael Print, Vicar of St George’s & All Saints’, Chorley.