There’s Darkness Down There

Posted on May 28, 2020 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Phil Callaway

Our 4-year-old granddaughter was peering down the stairs. She whispered, “There’s darkness down there.” She was right. Bright spots on planet earth are scarce these days.

I’m a humorist. I love cheering people up. During COVID-19 I’ve been posting things like, “I miss makin’ restaurant waiters laugh by sayin’ stuff like, ‘Bring me some turtle soup and make it snappy.’” Or, “Pretty excited about my car. Just got 22 days to the gallon.”

But life can drain our joy tank. A few years ago we made a Can’t Miss investment in a hotel. It missed. Thankfully, I also invested in the stock market. Oh wait. Friends have lost businesses and marriages and hope. We know a little about tough times, too. My wife battles epilepsy. We lost 5 immediate family members in one year. Three thoughts about hardship have helped bring back the joy.

Expect it. Jesus never said, “In this world you will have ease.” He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” Whoever said, “If the world didn’t suck, we’d all fall off,” was onto something. This old world is busted. Unrealistic expectations drain our joy. I have not learned anything worthwhile apart from discomfort and hardship.

Accept it. Jesus never said, “Be of good fear.” He said, “Be of good cheer.” Psychologists claim that anxiety and gratitude cannot coexist in the human brain. I sometimes whine. “My hand is too chubby to shove into the Pringles chip container.” “My seedless watermelon has a seed in it.” But when I leave whine country for a place called Gratitude everything changes. Joy grows best in the soil of thanksgiving.

Redeem it. Jesus never said, “The world has overcome me.” He said, “I have overcome the world.” His death brought hope, redemption and eternal life. Because we have experienced his comfort in hardship we are able to comfort others.

In 1916, a tiny company began in a carpenter’s shop in Denmark. When the housing market collapsed, the shop started to manufacture toys. When the wooden-toy department burned down, the company staked its future on some small interlocking plastic bricks. Last year, Lego’s sales surpassed $5 billion.

In 33 AD, a remarkably mediocre and fickle band of disciples listened to Jesus’ last words before he left this broken world. “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” One by one they lost their lives but turned the world right-side up.

Yes, it’s dark down there. But the light of the world has promised his presence. The same God who raised Joseph from prison, Moses from a basket, Rahab from a brothel, and our Savior from the dead is with us today.

And my granddaughter is too. Here is her latest prayer. “Dear God, please take daddy’s headache away. And give it to Satan. Amen.”