When Does the Night End?

In recent weeks, I've found myself both moved and inspired by fellow congregants who are pressing forward in the midst of grueling life challenges. Filled with the desire to offer words of comfort and encouragement, I found myself soon receiving words to use for such an effect. In short, when the trials of the night seem to persist indefinitely, we can become so hardened, discouraged, and pessimistic that we could miss the gradual onset of the day, and the relief and joy that can refresh, reinvigorate, and enlighten us.

Let us, then, move forward with a real-world example as we approach this sublime awareness.

Those of us who have had occasion to take a young child to the doctor, or those of us who remember going to the doctor ourselves as a child, can relate to those visits when a needle is involved. Just thinking about the shot is stressful (even now)! No one looks forward to that sharp metal being jammed into their arm or butt and fluid being squirted into their body (or worse, a blood draw or an IV), and we find ourselves tensing up, we feel our palms getting sweaty, we even notice that our breathing becomes shallower, among other things.

But, any doctor with impressive bedside skills has many tricks ready to deploy in an effort to comfort and distract the child from this unpleasant experience. If the doctor is really good, then he/she will have administered the shot and be walking out of the door by the time that the child realizes that the ordeal has passed.

For a moment, the child sits there (perhaps with a newly gifted lollipop in hand) a bit bewildered as to what has happened. The child was expecting the worst; the child had tensed up, hardened himself, and (especially in the case of older ones) prepared to take it like a "big boy." And, for all the build up, the actual moment of trial passed in a few milliseconds, almost totally unnoticed. One of the first thoughts that the child has upon recognizing the situation is, "Is it really over? That was it?" Then, relief floods in (it's over)!

Sometimes, life is like that for us. No one likes wrestling with trouble, but life has conditioned us to 1) expect it, and 2) try to be strong in the midst of it. But, if the truth be told, enduring trouble is stressful, exhausting, and draining. Enduring trouble often casts a pall of pessimism over us. In fact, many times, we hunker down so low, expecting the worst indefinitely, that we don't even look up (if only periodically) to see if it is over. Instead of looking for, hoping for, or expecting the joy that the Bible assures us is to come, we often live our lives instead from the perspective of a rhetorical question that we all have asked: when does the night end?

The familiar scripture at Psalm 126:1-3 poetically describes to us that moment of awe, bewilderment, and disbelief--the pivotal moment when the script was flipped from enduring a challenging, grueling ordeal, to the moment when it is over. At such times, we've been living with our nose to the grindstone (as it were) for so long, living in that question for so long, until we don't notice when the night actually ended! In many cases, the first emotion that we experience is being stunned. As happy or ecstatic as we might ultimately become, those first few moments can be likened to a "pregnant pause", during which we come to recognize that we can finally stop expending the effort to keep pushing so hard and take a break.

For those particularly long or difficult challenges, there may be a sense of melancholy or disorientation; we may wonder within ourselves, "I've been struggling with this for so long! Now that it's over, what will I do?" There is that moment when we look around to see where we are now, to see what has changed, to see what is new, and to see what has be cast by the wayside.

Take a moment and think back on a tribulation that you know that God delivered you from. If you're like me, most of those "take me back" moments are etched clearly in our memory. When you think of that ordeal and the subsequent deliverance, do you remember thinking at some point, "When will this end?" And, when the deliverance came, can you honestly say that you saw it coming?

One of the profoundly deep truths taught to us in the Bible is that Light is formed out of Darkness. In fact, this truth was enshrined in the Siddur prayer book:

Blessed art Thou, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, Who formest Light and createst Darkness, Who makest Peace and createst all things.

This passage almost verbatim draws from Isaiah 45:7 where God tells us through His prophet, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

The way that we have been acculturated in Western society, we have come to often think that the existence of a challenge or problem means that something is wrong; especially if it disrupts our comfort. Perhaps something is wrong, in the sense that, because of our discomfort, we are motivated to try and mitigate some discomfort or to fix a problem.

Certainly, we don't want ourselves or others to die, to be sick, to be in pain, hungry, broke, depressed, victimized, lonely, or addicted, just to name a few. And, as we embark upon the process of mitigating or fixing the problem, we often unwittingly embark upon a spiritual process of discovering God anew and bringing more of our higher consciousness into this world of action. We become more intimately aware of our boundaries (i.e our end, per Psalm 39:4), we learn how to better stretch out on faith. We learn how to be more resourceful. We learn how to pray better. Being acutely aware of our own pain, suffering, discomfort, and loss, we find ourselves becoming more sensitized to and compassionate about the difficult plights of our brothers and sisters.

We may, at first, view these moves or changes as a short term deviation from our usual state of being and action; but, if the LORD suffers us to endure such trials for any significant period, what ends up happening is that we are changed permanently for the better. And, the whole while, as we hunker down for the long term, as we try to roll with the punches, as we become seasick as the waves toss us to and fro, we find ourselves repeatedly asking that desperate question, "When does this night end?!"

Ultimately, we usually emerge with a stronger faith, a grittier determination, and a closer relationship with God, regardless of how the situation ultimately turns out; but that haunting questions lingers...

Indeed, some of us reading this today are reading it precisely to receive a Word that will give us the strength to hold on! Although we tend to experience suffering as we endure our tribulations, suffering is not the goal; change and growth are the goals. And, the uncomfortable truth is that we can grow willingly or unwillingly.

Sometimes, suffering is unavoidable; some things we can't read in a book. Some things can only be described by parents, teachers, and preachers; but we will have to experience it ourselves. But, let us maintain the presence of mind to keep looking up! The cliche is true; "It is always the darkest before the dawn."

One of the unique qualities about dawn is that, until the sun breaks over the horizon, one looking around or down would still think that it is night. Only when looking up can one see the indigo give way to purple, to red, to orange, to pink, to the Light! Only by looking up can we see the breathtaking awe and beauty of the dawn. Only by looking up can we come to contemplate (in that pregnant pause) the poignant question in Psalm 8:

[3] When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;
[4] What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?

Interestingly enough, all of the majestic beauty and grandeur of the stars, planets, constellations, and galaxies can only be seen and contemplated in the darkness of the night!

Ultimately, we may not know how long the night will endure, or when the night will end, but as my mentor taught me, "There never has been a night, no matter how long, no matter how dark, that was not followed by the day."

While we wait patiently for God's deliverance, while we persevere while God's forms and fashions us, let us remain mindful of the need to look up! Even in the night, we can behold the majestic wonders of His hands (Psalm 136)--

"To Him Who alone doeth great wonders... to Him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters... to Him that made great lights... the sun to rule by day... the moon and stars to rule by night; for His mercy endureth forever!"

So, as the Psalmist exhorts (Psalm 121), let us "lift up our eyes unto the hills... our Help cometh from the LORD!"

When Does the Night End? | Ecency