“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD,
WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Matthew: 27:46
Our Dark Nights
The Christian teacher and writer from Spain,
John of the Cross June 24, 1542 –December 14, 1591. John spoke from his own
experience(s) when he expressed the despair and dryness of soul which we all
encounter in our Christian journey from time to time as we walk this life
toward eternity with our lord Jesus Christ.
John 's poem called “the Dark Night” expressed his, (and on occasion our), painful
experience(s) that we Christians all can face as we seek to grow in spiritual
maturity and union with God.
Whether we agree with all of John’s Theology
or not, we can agree that all of us, either have, are or will pass through
times that truly seem to be “Dark Nights of the soul”.
It is in these Dark Nights when God appears to
be so distant and removed, we feel so alone and abandoned. Our Spiritual
moorings are shaken, we feel adrift.
Our pain can be so intense, barrenness grips
us and our faith we realize is so inadequate, our own resources dwindle.
Despair can envelop us, we want to give up, we ask ourselves, is it worth it?
How can we go on? Will it ever get better? Life feels meaningless and empty,
prospects are fading.
We cry out to God and from our point of view,
the heavens are as brass, it is as if our prayers have no reception at the
Throne of our God. We ask "where is God in these times?
does He care? is He there?" We look ahead and see a dark road which
leads to more empty darkness.
Yet, in
spite of how we feel, or how we perceive these “Dark Night(s)”, it
is in times as these, that our Lord is there, watching, and sustaining us. As
alone as we may “feel”, we are not.
If you are now passing through a time of deepening darkness in your Christian life, when all seems amiss, then I encourage you to take hold of the words inspired by the Holy Spirit and penned in the Epistle to the Hebrew Christians; for this admonition is not just for our spiritual ancestors of 2000 years ago, but they are for all of us in all ages, for us now. And if we are in a “Dark Night” of the soul, then these words will minister comfort to us.
“Never will I leave you; never
will I forsake you” Heb: 13:5.
Jesus Christ has made an eternal commitment to
us even as we grope our way in despair Jesus is there being for us in
these moments, what we can never be for ourselves. When our prayers seem so
ineffectual, Jesus is there as our abiding Intercessor, able to succor our
deliverance.
“Therefore he is able to save
completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Heb: 7:25
Jesus is always standing with and for us, even
in our darkest times, this means that when our own prayers seem so weak, or we
have despaired to the point when we have no elegant words that come forth out
of our being to cry out with. It is in these times that we should then know
that Jesus himself prays for us, knowing that our names are upon the lips of
our Savior, should give us hope.
Jesus’ “Dark Night”
Jesus himself knows these moments. In Jesus'
humanity when facing the cross, knowing that the hour was near at hand Jesus
said:
“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I
say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” Jhn: 12:27
When upon the Cross, as Jesus hung there
for the sins of us all, Jesus uttered the words in that “Dark Night” of His Soul, which came at noon day –
quoting from Psalm:22
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Matt: 27:46
Jesus understands and knows firsthand the
“Dark Night” of the Soul, that sense of being abandon and alone. But Jesus is
doing more than just identifying with our feelings of abandonment or isolation
he is declaring himself our Savoir in and through these times. This psalm which
Jesus speaks was and is known as a Messianic Psalm, by declaring the words he
is declaring himself the Messiah even in our "Dark Nights".
Yet, Jesus also knew something else, as
he was upon the cross; Jesus knew what was beyond his (and our) “Dark Nights”. When
Jesus cried our using the words from Psalm 22:1, he did
so not just for what those verses expressed, but for what we read latter on in
the Psalm: 22, in verses 22-31.
I will declare thy name unto my
brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of
Israel.
For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from
him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
My praise shall be of thee in
the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they
shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live forever.
All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before thee.
For the kingdom is the Lord's:
and he is the governor among the nations.
All they that be fat upon earth
shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him:
and none can keep alive his own soul.
A seed shall serve him; it
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
They shall come, and shall
declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done
this.
Jesus knew what was the end result, that there
was real hope, an end to the “Dark Night”.
In Our Dark Nights
In these times when all seems night and
darkness, we will find comfort in Jesus. God’s Word is a help even as we struggle
reading the Scriptures, prayer, worship all these will help grow in our
awareness of the abiding presence of Jesus.
So often it is the very things that will help
us the most that we often set aside first. But above all we have Jesus, to aid
and carry us, when our spiritual legs give out.
Dawn Will Come
The Apostle St. Peter, knowing that many
Christians were and would pass through these times, wrote of what lay beyond
that there is a dawning which awaits us.
“And we have the word of the
prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to
a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts.” 2 Pet: 1:19
After we have been in the “Dark Night “ of our Souls, when we have passed
through them, we will look back, and viewing these moments of despair ,
forsakenness in retrospect and in the clear light of dawn and we will see that
in our times of deepest darkness , that it was our Lord himself who bore us up
,who was (and is) ever present and with us through it all,
dealing mercifully with us , and has (and will) seen us
through these “Dark Nights” through which we all
pass into the glory of endless day in Eternity with our Lord and King...
Benediction: May we each and all look to our Lord
Jesus Christ who is with each and all as we pass thru the Dark Nights of our
Souls into the glorious light of Eternity Today, tomorrow and forevermore.
Amen.
Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
"If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not
About Anything"
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