In Your Darkest Night

4.) And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; 
    Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 
5.) The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; 
    The deep was round about me; The weeds were wrapped about my head. 
6.) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed upon me for ever: 
    Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God. 
7.) When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; 
    And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.                      Jonah 2:4-7


 There are times that try our souls. We feel as if  we are a rope stretched too far. The cooked pasta slung onto the wall. No matter the physical time of day, we are in the darkest of nights; the darkest of times. As we navigate through an ocean of air, it's as if life has sucker punched us and left gasping for air.

Holiday times are the worst times to lose a loved one. They are the worst times to lose our fortunes, our health, they are the worst times to lose things we love, or our necessities-- yet Satan takes no holiday. He uses anything and all things to bring us to our knees.

Knowing that we are emotional creatures, he takes all oportunities to tear human beings down. It works too. How many times do horrendous things happen, things that tear at a person's heart and a person's very fiber. We cry out in pain and despair, Why? Or why me? And most always God is attatched to the question. Why did God allow this to happen? Why did God do this to me?

Very seldom does anyone ever attach Satan to the deed. Death and calamities happen to all of us. Some people have them in greater numbers and more difficult burdens. In those times it is a necessity that people step up and support the bereaved.

Things we see on this side of the mountain:

• we see the stark difference between dark and light
• we see and feel pain and suffering
• we see, on the other side, the beauty of actions of compassion
• we see friends and neighbors, some who have passed along this same road, reaching out in ways maybe just small ways--words of encouragment, cards, food, just being available without words to help bear our burdens
• the deeper the sorrow and need, we see the greater the contrast and greater the meaning of small things; a touch, a smile, a word, a listening ear --all mean so much

These difficulties either draw us into a closer walk with our creator, God, or away from Him. It either tends to harden the heart like a brick, or melt the heart like butter. We choose. A brick will grow heavy and burdensome. If a person grows toward God, open to His love and teaching with a melted heart, it will be lighter and more bearable.

In Genesis 50:20  Joseph is approached by his brothers after the death of their father, Jacob. They fear that Joseph, now that their father has died, will retaliate for when they maliciously sold him into slavery. They make up a story to convince him not to treat them ill because of the sins of their youth. Joseph quiets their fears and tells them: "And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good...".

You see, Satan torments us here. He means it for evil, yet God can (and will) turn it around for us.  We need to but trust Him.

 Romans 12:15  "Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep."