LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
On a Gloomy Day
In our southern hemisphere, in this season, the Lord usually wakes us up with a cold and cloudy sunrise. When I look at that dark sky, I remember an experience from long ago, in an airport, when boarding a flight under a cloudy sky and an icy wind that seemed to penetrate to the bone.
Yet as the plane soared above the clouds, oh wonder, a brilliant sun shone overhead. We were flying over a thick sea of clouds and, looking out the small window, the radiant sun caressed my face. It was an incredible contrast to the scene he had seen on the ground a few minutes before.
This memory makes me think of our life as believers. Often, we face days similar to that one, very gray and cold. Our hearts are overwhelmed and filled with fears. Men of little faith –as we really are– it seems to us that this darkness will continue for a long, long time.
But, high up, beyond the threatening storm clouds, there is a light that does not go out, there is a Sun of justice; Our Lord is always attentive. He, being so loving, sympathizes with our weaknesses, and even when it seems to us that he was absent, it is not.
The storm hangs over our heads, the cold pierces us. Nevertheless, the Sun is there. He is real. His throne is immovable, the radiance of his glory has not faded, and his gaze is fixed on his little flock, on each of his loved ones.
It does us good to raise our eyes to the heights. If we have not yet fallen into despair, it is not because we have been strong in ourselves, but because he is there, above our sadness or our fears.
"Fear not, worm of Jacob, O ye few of Israel; I am your help, says the Lord" (Is. 41:14). We believers know that the time of trouble has an end date. The Lord is for you, the Lord is for me. He is our help, our quick help. And the most wonderful thing of all is that, dwelling in inaccessible light, he also lives in our hearts, by his Holy Spirit!
Faithful believer, on this day, the Lord bless you and keep you, and make his face shine upon you.