Friday, March 8, 2024

Light in the Darkness

Read: Psalm 23

It is easy to get a sense of God's presence sitting in a church with beautiful colored windows. It is also easy to feel God's presence watching the sun rise over the lake as I am driving to work. But what about those days when the sun is not shining, literally or figuratively?

In all of our lives there are days – and especially, nights, when we feel lost and abandoned. Where is the God who inspired the choirs and organ in churches to fill the air with joys of praising Him?

Where is the brilliant sun that shone so brightly we had to move our cars' visors to the left to safely see what lies ahead on the road?

These are times when we are experiencing what has been called "The Dark Night of the Soul," a time when the sweet consolations of God's joys seem so very far away. It is during this time that we are doing well just to "hold on" to our faith as we might feel as when we are descending the basement stairs without having remembered to switch on the lights; the handrail becomes our lifeline.

And so it is that when we are in the dark and greatly desire the light to cast understanding to our fears, we can forget that God has allowed us to be in that place for a reason; though the reason why is far from our understanding.

It is during those times that we can return to the Book of Psalms, aka "Jesus’ Own Prayer Book." We can be strengthened by the verse "The Lord is My Shepherd; there is nothing I shall lack...even though I should walk through the valley of death...I shall fear no evil, for you, O Lord, are with me."

So when we are lost in a darkness when we were expecting a light to shine, so the perceived loss of light provides a True Illumination to our souls – and teaches us to center our hope not in always understanding but TRUSTING the Lord of all light, love, and consolations.

David Smith