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Today's Lenten Devotion
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Sight Unseen
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
-- Micah 7:8
We live in extraordinary times. Particularly as Christians. In America, there is a culture within the culture that is bent on creating its own brand of spirituality — or not creating one! There are many who disbelieve in God and Christ; some people simply think that being good is good enough. There are all sorts of prevailing “winds of doctrine” and the Christian has enemies in society — obvious and not so obvious. Some enemies do rejoice when Christians sit in darkness.
The good and fortifying news in today’s passage is that Jesus is the light for the Christian. Indeed, the eternal light, and He is the light-bearer in our earthly days. Even the days filled with darkness; darkness in society and the days of personal darkness that the Lord sees and shares. Sight unseen, Christ permeates every situation with His radiant light of promise, hope, security, strength, and hold. True to His Word, True to Himself, He will not let any one of us go. No matter what it looks like to enemies, in weak times and seasons Christians lean on Jesus. And when Christians fall, in Christ they get up.
As times goes by and life brings what it will, it becomes clear that there will be unpredictable and strange times of darkness for each one of us. However these times manifest, those who believe in Jesus in dark spells are upheld. Lent makes us mindful of our spiritual being; God’s Word does its strengthening work all year long.
One day when I am an old lady who is slow of speech, slow of step, and without wit or memory, I will not be able to fight the good fight against the enemies I know who detest or trivialize Christianity. I will not be able to boldly state what I believe and quietly explain to someone that good is not good enough, you must be born again in Jesus. I will not be able to try to be that witness that might make a difference for eternity.
And this is fine. With every passing year, the scoffs and indifference of others make less difference to me. Blessedly I continue to learn the solid lesson that Jesus walked in darkness. He is the model. We are wise to keep doing what is right; to keep “working for justice and peace” as Grace so beautifully read one recent week during the prayers in church.
No matter what the world offers in darkness, and what we personally experience in dark times, the Christian can believe in the light—sight unseen. Christ is there. Christ will always be there. We have His Word on it. We have His blood on it.
Lord, Thank You for all You did and all You are that tells us that throughout Lent and throughout life, we can count on You—our Light. In Jesus’ Eternal Name, Amen.
Chris Ann Waters
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