Sitting in the Darkness

It is nearly winter here, in the mountains of North Carolina. It gets dark early, and it is starting to get cold. Winter mix is forecast for the second half of this week, and I am anxious to get home to the South Carolina coast, where it is a little lighter, and a lot warmer. For many people, darkness is depressing. Some folks have SAD- Seasonal Affected Disorder. It's common in my own family.

We associate darkness with the cold of winter, certainly, but we also associate it with depression. With someone sitting alone in the dark. Perhaps they are grieving the loss of a loved one, or maybe have PTSD from their military service (or from an abusive boss.) Or maybe they are dealing with a drug addiction, or lost everything in a fire or flood.

Here in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, the devastation from hurricane Helene is visible, even from the highway. Multiple communities of 60 plus homes were swept down the mountain and are now buried under 30-40 feet of mud, bodies and all. Some communities are still cut off, and some report that roads are being rebuilt to them over ground which still contains bodies, in a desperate attempt to prioritize the living over the dead. Locals and volunteer responders are estimating 5,000 dead and 5,000 missing. Getting help from the government requires proof of identity and proof of residency, but many victims lost everything, including driver's licenses and the social security cards required to get new driver's licenses. So administratively, they are a non-person and not entitled to benefits.

Families can't bury their dead, and their agony is prolonged. Having family members still missing, buried somewhere under all that mud, means that death certificates can't be issued and life insurance policies not paid out. Property cannot be sold without getting drug through probate court. Everyone is in limbo, and life is on hold. Suicides are on the rise and as the temperature drops below freezing soon, the tent cities will become untenable. Those families living in tents risk losing their children to Child Protective Services.

The national news cycle has gone on to more important things. Volunteers and locals who have been working since the beginning are running on fumes. Fresh volunteers are arriving still, but there is a distinct lack of organization to the process. Some people find each other online before coming. Others just show up with supplies and hands ready to work. There is physical and emotional darkness here, and it's about to get worse.

I read something this morning, however, that made me think. In my devotion time, I use a pair of Bibles, currently The New International Version (NIV), and The Message. The NIV is a true English translation from the original sources, but The Message is a transliteration. It is a re-telling in modern language. I like it because I grew up with the 1611 King James Version, and the churches I attended as an adult tend to use the New International Version or English Standard Version. The last two are very similar to each other, and I have been familiar with the King James version since childhood. My difficulty is that when I read a familiar passage in the King James, the NIV, the ESV, or similar translations, the passage is familiar. I remember the many sermons I heard over the years, and my mind says "yes, yes, I know this. Next?" But when I read The Message, it is different enough that I often see it with fresh eyes and something unexpected will arrest my attention. The Message doesn't get everything right, in my opinion (and I can't read ancient Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic to compare things myself), but I find it useful. This morning was one of those moments.

I opened to Jeremiah 30, and I was staring at verse 8:

" 'And then I'll enter the darkness."

God is talking to the Jews through the prophet Jeremiah. They have been conquered by foreigners ands many were in captivity in Babylon, but God was telling them that He will later bring them back to their land. Here is the complete passage, of Jeremiah 30:8-9, quoting from The Message:

" 'And then I'll enter the darkness.

I'll break the yoke from their necks,

cut them loose from the harness.

No more slave labor to foreigners!

They'll serve their GOD

and the David king I'll establish for them.

The other English language translations I read leave out that line about God entering our darkness, but I think it fits with what we know of God's character. In the book of 1st Kings, chapter 19, we find the prophet Elijah hiding in a cave. The queen had threatened to kill him, and he is on the run. He is sitting there, alone in the dark and feeling utterly miserable. He was at his darkest moment, and then God started talking to him:

Then the word of GOD came to him: "So Elijah, what are you doing here?"

"I've been working my heart out for GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies," said Elijah. "The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me."

Then he was told, "Go, stand on the mountain at attention before GOD. God will pass by."

A hurricane wind ripped through the mountain and shattered the rocks before GOD, but GOD wasn't to be found in the wind; after the wind and earthquake, but GOD wasn't in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but GOD wasn't in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there...

Elijah was in a dark place emotionally, and his physical location in the depths of the cave matched his mood. But God entered his darkness, and spoke to him.

Maybe, like Elijah, you are sitting alone in the darkness. You feel overwhelmed by sin, addiction, loss, or just life itself. How about this-- first still your heart-- then ask God to enter your darkness.

See what He has to say, and then reach out to a friend. (I'm available if you need to talk.)

This was once a trailer park, with 30 mobile homes.