When the darkness is light enough (Psalm 139:11)

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139:11 (TM)

Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!"

STORY:

A recent novel by Madeleine L'Engle is entitled A Severed Wasp. If you're addressing young people or some other audience with strong stomachs, the title, which comes from one of George Orwell's essays, offers a graphic image of human lostness. Orwell describes a wasp that "was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him." The wasp and people without Christ have much in common. Severed from their souls, but greedy and unaware, people continue to consume life's sweetness. Only when it's time to fly away will they gasp their dreadful condition.

OBSERVATION:

It would seem impossible to have a sense of lostness even when in the presence of absolute and total love and acceptance. But, just walk into any church anywhere in the world. In the pews one will discover individuals just like the wasp in the story… enjoying the sweet nectar of forbidden fruits and totally oblivious to the changed nature of their relationship with God. Eating away, but unaware that a major part of themselves is missing. Much like the dear soul who, upon leaving worship one Sunday, declared: “Preacher who’ve ruined church for me with all this Jesus stuff!”

We want the benefit without the price.

And yet, there is God always loving, always caring, always present to love and accept. God patiently awaits our realization that something is missing. We cannot escape his love or his light. In the play The Dark is Light Enough, Christopher Fry speaks to the heavenly reality that even in our darkest midnights God provides enough light for us to take the next step. It might not be enough to take flight, but it is enough to live another day so that we might rediscover once again our soul and thus, discover the joy of flight as in we will mount up on eagle’s wings.

There will come a time… a moment of realization… that the sweetness of the nectar of this world will no longer satisfy our true hunger. At the moment of dawning we will turn to discover God patiently waiting for us to rediscover our true nature and be embraced by his grace.

PRAYER:

God of grace and God of love thank you for waiting for us to come to the awareness that life isn’t worth living without you.