“Mommy, I didn’t think we would ever make it out of the woods when we were playing that game earlier,” my four year old whispered as we laid in his bed last night.
“Me either, buddy, but we did,” I responded.
“We sure did,” he said as he drifted off to sleep.
I laid there in silence replaying his words. So often, when we’re in the thick of it, it feels like we are never going to make it out of the woods: out of grief, out of heartache, depression, bad relationships or jobs, sickness, really hard situations, yucky finances, or just a cycle of bad decision making on our part. Those situations often feel so endless and so incredibly dark. Yet, dawn comes.
Luke wrote, “Because of our God’s merciful compassion, the Dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1: 78-79). Luke was talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus. He recounted His birth just a few verses later in Luke 2. Though we aren’t living in a time where we are waiting on our coming Messiah’s birth, we are living in a time where our Messiah has come, has died, has conquered death, and is now seated at the right hand of God. Knowing that, when we find ourselves in the thick of it, in the darkest parts of our lives, we can stop and breathe that in. We can’t always see what’s being done, but we know that something is happening behind the scenes.
Paul wrote, “For our momentary light affliction [our suffering] is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
I was reminded of the meaning of this Scripture in a book I recently read The Good and the Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith. After losing his daughter, Smith turned to God, without thinking, and said, “Maybe it would have been better if she had never been born…” He proceeded to write, “That was when I received one of the clearest experiences of God communicating with me that I had ever had in my life… [He heard his daughter’s voice say] “There is more good that has happened because of me that you can’t see now but will one day understand.” Wow, I thought to myself, that’s powerful. Our suffering is producing an incomparable eternal weight of glory, as Paul said. I could feel that in my core, and I hope you can too.
My friend, whatever you’re going through, tell yourself, “There is more good coming from this than I’ll ever be able to see.” Write in on your mirror; post it in your car or on your door; tell yourself daily: God is using this. Then get up, and take the next step forward.
Is it still hard? Yes.
Is it still painful? Absolutely.
Does it still feel dark? Sure.
Does it still feel like it will never end? Yes.
Now insert Jesus.
Will it end? Yes, friend. It will end. This life isn’t the end of our story: Dawn is. He has come. He is risen, and He is coming back. Breathe that in. Preach it to yourself daily. So many things we experience here are circumstantial. However, God’s love is not. It’s not based on whether we’re right or wrong, happy or sad, kind or unkind. It’s based on the love of Jesus. It’s based on the work that was done on the cross for us. Because of this, we can move forward knowing that life isn’t perfect, but Jesus is, and He is where our hope lives. As He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live” (John 11:25).
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