Tuesday, June 29, 2021

When the Light has Gone Out

 

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day.  I come to you at night.  Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.  For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near.  I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left.  They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave.  I am forgotten, cut off from your care.  You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths.  Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me. Interlude
You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.  I am in a trap with no way of escape.  My eyes are blinded by my tears.  Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy.  Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?  Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude
Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?  Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?  Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?  Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?  O Lord, I cry out to you.  I will keep on pleading day by day.  O Lord, why do you reject me?  Why do you turn your face from me?  I have been sick and close to death since my youth.  I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.  Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.  Your terrors have paralyzed me.  They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.  They have engulfed me completely.  You have taken away my companions and loved ones.  Darkness is my closest friend.  Psalm 18:1-18

The Psalmist moves from addressing God as JHWH, the LORD who is his salvation, to admitting the only real friend he has is the darkness.  What flows inbetween these two opposites is the crying-out of a soul that has been emptied by life’s harsh circumstances.  This is a man facing the darkness and contemplating embracing it.  Death is on the horizon, and the pain of continuing to live is so filled with the emptiness of admitting his life has been a waste of effort, all he can see is the darkness.  It is the testimony of one who has had hope disappear; all that is left is to turn to the wall and wait, contemplating the moment of relief when death takes over.  It seems so unjust, but the last flicker of hope has been snuffed like a flood of a fire hose against a paper match.

Been there?  Are there?

One of the things I’ve noticed (all too often) is that most people don’t admit to coming close to that darkness occasionally.  That is usually for one of two reasons.  Either the person is of strong faith, and they know the darkness cannot overturn the eternal light God has placed within their soul when they trusted Jesus.  Or, it is when the faith of a person has been assaulted so much, doubt has gotten the upper hand.  In either case, to admit to the darkness is to somehow grant it victory. 

Seemingly.

But that is faulty thinking.  Admitting the darkness, like the Psalmist holds up the darkness as the only thing he’s got left in this life, is the same thing we did when we first came to Christ, admitting we lived in darkness and were, in faith, going to trust the great light God promises.  My good friend, the tax collector, Matthew, understood this as he quoted Isaiah’s prophecy to us about Jesus, the light of the world:  

the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”  Matthew 4:16

For You Today

Friend, if your light has gone out like the Psalmists, you may be wondering if God has forgotten your address, or if He ever even knew it, or knew you.  You may feel like Job, having tried his best to do right, live right, be right – and had your life collapse like a house of cards in a windstorm.  You may be singing the Psalmist’s song like Simon and Garfunkel hello darkness, my old friend.  The only truth that will do at a time like that is to know that God’s Light in Jesus Christ has overcome the darkness.  Turn to the light and the darkness must flee for its’ life.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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