Glimpses of heaven in the dark corners of life

Physicist Stephen Hawking now says that heaven is an invention of those who are afraid of the dark. How can he possibly know that heaven is not real? I’m always amazed by the conclusions made by people who have not been there. I would rather to take the word of those who know for certain what they are talking about.

Jesus Christ came from the presence of God and returned there. He has lots to say about heaven, even more to say about the alternative. Because of who He is, I choose to believe Him. However, His eyewitness account also has support from others who have not been to heaven yet, but have experienced a taste of it on earth.

The most amazing accounts of life with faith in God (and belief in heaven) are not from people who know earthly delights and call it “heaven on earth.” Rather, they are from those who have experienced a taste of glory in the middle of terrible strife. Life for them has been rotten and full of sorrows, but in the midst of it, the assurance of the glory of God gives them hope.

Jeremiah was one of these people. He was not a popular prophet in his day. When he told the leaders of the land what God was going to do because of their idolatry and disobedience, they dropped him into a miry cistern. Knowing all that happens is either directed or permitted by the hand of God who is sovereign, he attributes his sorrows to Him.

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:1–18)

Jeremiah could not get much lower. However, he starts thinking about the past. At first his thoughts go to times in his life that are just like what he is experiencing and I can relate to that. When I am experiencing trials, I tend to think that life has always been one big trial. But Jeremiah does not stop there. He keeps on remembering and pulls out of his mind some of the positive things that he has also known.

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:19–26)

Those who trust in Jesus Christ are not immune from “the dark” nor do we invent things to make it go away. Jeremiah experienced sieges of darkness that were real and awful, yet he was not giving in or giving up to despair. He let the darkness swirl around him, but in the end remembered not to judge the character of God by the trauma of life.

In reading his story, I see the power of God to give His people hope no matter what is going on. While others may go into denial, try to escape, or even invent something that does not exist to help them cope, God does the most amazing things for those of us who trust Him. He gives us encouragement and hope in the midst of our worst situations. Our hope is not that it will soon be over, or that we will escape, but the reality that He is with us and is our portion. He loves us and is merciful toward us. After all, we are not getting what our sins deserve. The trials may be unpleasant, but we have His promise that He is using them for our good (Romans 8:28), shaping us into the image of His Son.

We don’t have to invent heaven because we know it is a real place. We don’t have to fear the dark because we have been delivered into light. We have not yet seen heaven, but we have seen the goodness of God in the land of the living during our darkest hours in this place. This is a mere taste of the light and the glory that is to come.

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Lord, as I read about and speak with those who do not know you, my heart actually aches for them. You have offered so much, yet so many people are not interested in Your offer, only in their own interpretation of things they cannot see. I feel some of Jeremiah’s angst, but for others, not myself. Hear my prayers for those in the dark. Bring them out of that darkness and into the light of knowing Jesus Christ, who is light, even the Light of the world. Help them understand that heaven is the hope of those who have not so much feared the dark as we have learned to fear and love You, the One who controls our destiny.