STILL STANDING, AFTER NIGHT TIME

AT DAY TIME

 Matthew 27:45, 46

There are many experiences which occur in the course of our years for which there is absolutely no obvious and immediate explanation.  Who knows why our burden has to be so heavy?  Who knows why we have to cry sometimes?  Life is a mystery.  There are riddles that remain unanswered,  There are mysteries that remain unraveled.  There are perplexities that remain perplexing.  There are diseases for which there is no known cure.  And what we don’t understand about our trying experience now, we must believe that we’ll understand it better by and by.

When we cannot see the way, we must trust the way.  When we do not know the way, we must believe the way.  When we do not know why, we must believe that God knows why.  We must walk on by faith, and trust God to make the way, with unshakable certainty, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

From the sixth to the ninth hour, there was just darkness over all the land.  It seems to be this dreadful feeling of abandonment that Jesus experienced for three somber hours while hanging from the cross.  All his life, he had enjoyed the blissful blessedness of unbroken fellowship with his Father.  But now here he is on the cross, suspended in space, hanging below the bosom of heaven, orbiting above the earth as though rejected by both and accepted by neither.

The man who had been the friend to so many, the man who healed the sick and raised the dead – this man now is suffering like no man ever suffered before.  For three hours, beginning at the sixth hour until high noon when the sun was shining at its zenith, the light went out and heaven drew a curtain around Calvary.  For three hours, some phenomenon occurred which made Jesus feel that God had deserted him and left him abandoned in the dark.

Hear the eeriness in the cry of Jesus: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

And life is sometimes just like that; you ought to be living in the sunshine, and yet circumstance has consigned you to the darkness.  Abandoned is a strong word.  And yet, the truth is that there are times in our lives when we feel abandoned by God and left trembling in the dark.  Ask the young couple whose baby is dead on arrival; ask the person who loses his or her mate in the prime time of  his or her life.  Ask the families of those people whose lives were wiped out by an armed sniper’s bullet.  There have been times in your life when it felt like God had turned out the lights and left you wounded and hurting in the dark.  It’s high noon when the sun is glistening in its golden orbit.  Everything ought to be light and bright, tight and right, but instead, it’s dark.  It’s midnight at mid-day!  Everything is all mixed up.  It’s night time in the day time.  As children of God, all of us have had a night-time-in-the-day-time experience.  We looked to be blessed; instead we got trouble.  We thought we would get a clean bill of health; instead we had to have surgery.  We thought we were going to get that promotion; instead we got a pink slip.  All of us have experienced the strange phenomenon of night time in the day time, but we are still standing.

There are two things about this night-time-in-the-day-time experience  emanating from the text that should keep us standing.  First of all, there are some painful experiences that we have to go through.  Pain is a fact of life.  There is physical pain and there is spiritual and emotional pain—and Jesus was feeling all of it.  Nails were in his hands and feet.  His back was lacerated.  And, as if this wasn’t enough, he couldn’t feel the nearness of God.  They offered him pain killer, but he didn’t take it.  He endured the pain.

It may hurt, but endure it!  It may make you feel like God has abandoned you, but endure it!  Don’t give in!  Endure it!  God won’t stop the pain, but he’ll hold you and help you go through.  I am Still Standing!

The second lesson we can learn is that darkness doesn’t come to stay.  Matthew says that this darkness occurred from the sixth to the ninth hour.  (Matthew 27:45) The darkness comes, but it goes.  And as painful and as disturbing as it is, my brothers and sisters, the good news is that it doesn’t last forever.  Whether it’s three hours, three days, three weeks, three months, or three years, the darkness doesn’t last forever.  If you continue to stand, having done all to stand; you will discover that Joy comes back!  Peace comes back!  Happiness comes back!  In the language of the Psalmist, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  (Psalm 30:5)  The darkness comes, but it doesn’t come to stay.  It’s temporary.  I think I hear somebody singing, “I’m so glad that trouble doesn’t last always.”  “I’m so glad that behind every dark cloud there’s a silver lining.  I’m so glad after every rainstorm there’s a bright new sky.  The sun will shine again.”

I am so glad that I am a member of the Church of Christ, I have been a member of the Church of Christ over fifty-five years and I don’t feel no ways tired.  I have had obstacles to deter me, but thank God, I am Still Standing.  I have situations to defeat me, trials to discourage me, those who have deceived me, and my night-time-in-the-day-time experiences but thank God, I Am Still Standing!