In my Congregation, the members (self included) have endured severe challenges over the past couple of years. To a person, everyone has been sick, had an operation, experienced the death of a loved one, endured financial hardships--or a combination of the above--among other things. In fact, in a subliminal nod to these circumstances, we took as our theme for 2017, "Can You Stand the Rain?"
However, as 2018 commences, I am feeling optimistic about our plight as we move forward. To this end, I drew inspiration from a familiar scripture from Psalm 30. Let us approach this topic with an analogy.
Every year around Halloween, we see haunted houses pop up all over the place. Many people find it entertaining to enter these establishments for the sole purpose of being scared. There is a certain thrill to feeling adrenaline rush through our bodies, a certain excitement to confront difficult or fear-inducing experiences like violence, death, and discarnate spirits in a "safe" environment. There is a certain sense of accomplishment that one feels when he/she is able to enter the darkness, a darkness filled with things known to trigger one's most primal fears, and to emerge from it (unscathed, of course) having faced those fears.
Although there may be nothing practical gained from enjoying a haunted house beyond the entertainment value, there is something to be said for the concept of facing one's fears. In fact, for many, the best part of the experience is recounting it with our comrades while we laugh at our fearful reactions in the moment. As the cliché says, "One day, we'll look back on it and laugh."
As it turns out, we complete this cycle many times throughout our lives, a cycle where we either willingly enter or are unwittingly pulled into the darkness of some unknown venture, a venture that stretches us beyond our comfort level, a venture that may force us to face our fears, but a venture that, once completed, leaves us with priceless life experience. At first, we certainly may not understand why or how we got pulled into a challenging situation full of unknowns, but if there's one thing that we can say after the fact, it is that joy cometh in the morning!
The familiar Psalm 30 starts out with full-throated thanksgiving from the Psalmist for having been delivered out of trouble:
"I will extol thee, O LORD; for Thou hast lifted me up!"
The Psalmist elaborates on his initial testimony, contrasting his dark and foreboding experience with the ultimate deliverance by God. "I was facing my end, and He restored me." He poetically describes how distraught he was about facing what seemed to be his end, but that in a moment, God's deliverance changed what seemed like a lonely, hopeless midnight into the morning, a joyful morning!
While we know this is true at a deep level, and while the mere mention of this scripture may awaken within us memories of deliverance, revive a flood of gratitude, or even compel a fervent testimony, let us look more closely at this metaphorical language.
Isn't it interesting how times of challenge and difficulty are likened unto night and darkness, while moments of deliverance, discovery, or understanding are likened unto morning, day, or Light? Furthermore, isn't it interesting that, when the "day" breaks, when deliverance comes, the ones who have seen the Light are described as being full of joy and laughter? What can we learn from this? What lessons can we glean from this and apply to our daily lives?
Let us use two additional scriptures to approach the essence. We read in Psalm 126:
[1] When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
[2] Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing...
For a people who had been taken into captivity to Babylon, for a people who had been humbled by a stronger foe, left vulnerable as a prey by they God, and condemned to a fate where their identity as a people was almost lost through assimilation, a sudden reprieve and granting of deliverance after 70 years seemed surreal--almost unreal--and likened to a dream. And, in the moment where 70 years of subjugation were overturned, the people are described as having "their mouths filled with laughter..."
Laughter is the result of a sudden juxtaposition of opposites. In particular, when things are going one way--usually in a serious or grave manner--and suddenly turn in a different, lighter direction, laughter is the result. Thus, in any moment of life, when a rigorous or arduous journey suddenly eases or ends, there will almost always be laughter (and sometimes crying), but there will always be joy. And, there will be the sentiment, "I will extol Thee, O LORD, for Thou hast lifted ME up!"
Just think about those watershed moments in your own life, e.g. the time that you finished high school or college, when you finally found the love of your life, when you came out of the hospital, when you were spared in that car wreck. We look back on those times and laugh, not because the situation itself was funny or trivial, but because we didn't see an end; we didn't believe that we could be delivered. And, we laugh at our fearful reactions and our unbelief in those tense moments... We laugh at what we now understand is a ridiculous notion, i.e. that God could actually leave or forsake His people. As Paul reasoned (Romans 11):
[1] ...Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham...
[2] God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew...
This pattern of a sudden juxtaposition of darkness and light is, of course, encoded into the fabric of Creation, as Genesis 1 records:
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, "Let there be light": and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
In the Creation story, the thing that stands out to us is that God created everything from nothing (i.e. no thing). In fact, a subtle truth that is often overlooked is that even Light comes from the void, chaotic darkness! And further, that God sees this sudden flip, this sudden reveal, as good! There is a certain awe, amazement, and wonder when we consider this, as most of us can't even imagine "no thing", and yet everything comes from "no thing". It is the juxtaposition, the joy of the merging or flipping of opposites.
Seeing this from a broader perspective, we can see that understanding can always emerge from chaos. All darkness contains seeds of light. When we know this, then we can learn to see the familiar anew.
When we consider how God works His portion of Creation in us, we can see this dynamic repeated in our lives. God gave us an ego so that we can exist and function in this world. However, we know that the ego, as well meaning as it is, divinely appointed as it is, can interfere with our spiritual development.
Just as the ego yields in sleep, so, too, does God use darkness of trials and tribulations, the darkness of the unknown and unforeseeable to limit the ego's ability to interfere with His Work on, in, and through us. When the challenge ends, joy comes in the morning! "I faced sickness, but am okay. I faced death, but grief didn't overwhelm me. I faced insolvency, but being broke didn't really break me. I faced turmoil, but turmoil didn't tear me up."
"It is the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes."
And, we laugh at the ridiculousness of fear induced reactions in those moments of growth.
Our challenges are not our end; but the end of challenges reveals the beauty and perfection that, although unseen, the end is in the beginning. "All things work together for good..."
Ultimately, when the ego is brought under control and is made to yield at will, with no fear to rile it up, then darkness is no longer needed. Then, we shall say like Martin Luther King, Jr. and like Isaiah before him Isaiah 40:
[4] Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
[5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
