Yesterday’s devotional reading extends for this day, commenting on the verses that speak of God shining light in dark places, even as stars shine in the night sky.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright. (Psalm 112:4)
These “stars” are for us, even if at first they are
not welcome. Darkness, usually associated in the Bible with spiritual blindness,
can also mean confusion in the life of a Christian. This darkness is often
accompanied by suffering. Sometimes it is my own, but sometimes the light in
that darkness is a challenge to be more aware of the suffering of others and work
with God’s plan for them.
God can use poverty, illness, unemployment, war and
the like to draw people to Himself, yet I don’t know that. Most often,
suffering is the product of human selfishness and sin. Because God intends to
one day wipe these things from the earth, then He could be calling me to be an
agent in that purpose also.
However, the small light of figuring this out doesn’t
do much toward bringing comfort in the great darkness of human misery. I know
myself that when I am in trouble, knowing the cause of it is not nearly as
helpful as having the power I need to get through it, to endure until the thing
passes, if it does pass.
This brings another question about painful
circumstances. It is not “why me?” but “How can I deal with this?” This is
where the Word of God, both the pages and the Person, offer victory. My only
power is looking at Him. What did Jesus do with suffering? The Bible offers
this startling statement,
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)
If Jesus, the dear Son of God experienced trials and
troubles to teach Him what it means to obey God as a human being (He already
knew how to do that as the divine Son) then I also need to look at that
darkness and regard it and the stars in it as part of God’s design to shape my
soul.
As my artist training says, an essential of good design
is that there must be shadow as well as light, dull as well as bright. The
stars do not appear to be shining unless the sky is very dark. The struggles I have
make His light seem brighter, even more necessary than when all is well.
Besides that, how can fortitude, compassion, patience
and endurance be needed, never mind seen, in a “perfect” life? I need trouble to
train me for this high calling of following Christ, even to carve on me His gracious
profile. I need resistance to test and use my strength, confusion to make me
reach for clarity, darkness to make me look up to those stars.
Hebrews 11 contains the names of those in faith’s hall
of fame. None of them enjoyed happy and unclouded days. They were stoned, sawed
in two, put to death by the sword, went about in sheepskins and goatskins, and
lived lives of destitution, persecution and mistreatment. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. And I think my
life is difficult!
The Bible is clear about suffering’s value, as is the
history of Christ’ followers. Adversity has been in every age faith’s grim inheritance.
I do not walk alone, but I cannot expect my path to be totally sheltered, nor
always quiet, and protected. It is from suffering lips that this cry ascends…
Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. (Revelation 19:6)
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