09/24/2023
https://open.substack.com/pub/stutterer/p/a-long-night-and-the-brighter-day?r=qu1my&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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This article comes from a lot of personal thought amidst the past year and it's many lessons that has further emboldened my mission to use my talents on a larger scale. The future of society, and our perceived way of life is largely on a tectonic shift that will come very soon, and the faithful are convicted to lead when so many are lost in hopelessness. To live for nothing means forsaking the meaning of life, and America is looking for an answer amidst this chaos when that answer is given to those meant to speak it. If no one would act, then where would the future lead to? Thank you so much for the support (you know who you are!) 😁
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-A Long Night, And The Brighter Day-
The passage of time is a interchangeable enigma: All of us desire to achieve everything we want in one moment, to make the most of life with every second and to feel as if we’ve lived well. On the other side, the journey of achieving that process what gives it the sweetness that we chase after for all our lives, and in a way, we subconsciously embrace our struggles to give us a reason to fight. Therefore, the anguish of life comes from the longing of our dreams, but the joy of life is being freed of that weight after those trials. We all want to accomplish something extraordinary with our lives, to have our dreams become bigger than us and to see a journey unravel that can truly have us feel like we’ve lived to the fullest. God promises us swift victory, a triumphant rise over all that stands in front of us and against us, and He says constantly that we are never alone. So why do we not have that victory immediately? Because God wants us to be able to experience the process of growth to find poetry in the victory we find. He already knew us from the beginning, and He doesn’t fret about the outcome because He already knows. So His focus is to teach you the beauty of these principles, and to understand the climb to the heights of eternity.
The story that has to be remarked on in this regard is the story of Jericho. Joshua was chosen as the new general and leader of the people that would soon become Israel, upholding the work that Moses had accomplished in freeing the Israelites of Egypt. Jericho was a Canaanite city that resided in the region that Joshua intended to conquer for the new Israel, the Promised Land, and their armies had little chance to overcome this great city alone, as the city was protected by great walls. However, God told Joshua that the city was already theirs, and that they would be delivered on one simple instruction: To march around the city for six days, blowing trumpets as they carried the ark of the Lord with them, and not to shout in victory until the very last day. Six days their armies marched around Jericho and blew their trumpets, carrying God with them and most likely wondering as soldiers why they would wait for such a time when they could simply strike. Finally, on the seventh day, Joshua commanded their armies “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” On their cry, the walls of Jericho collapsed in a great quake, and they were conquered without resistance as their victory was dedicated to God’s glory and the future to come.
I remark on this story because of our own tendency to sit in frustration and our desire to take matters into our own hands, and forgetting faith amidst our lack of control. Sometimes this frustration can have us feel as if we’re going mad, praying to God that He would save us and venting our fear in any way that we can. The miracle of faith is that God can form the most simple of victories in a time ahead that we cannot see yet, and where our fears can manifest hell itself, God will turn the tide of every disaster to salvation. We beg God day after day that our time of redemption would finally come, and that our hopes would be revitalized in times of darkness. In Psalms 139:12, it says “even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” This is the importance of faith. In every century and every chapter of history, every person born in this earth has battled with the uncertainty of our future. King David was an exile and a wanted man for years before becoming the king, and he even wrote of these frustrations often:
“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him”, and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me…… though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever, do not abandon the works of your hands. His love endures forever.” Psalm 13:2-6; Psalm 138:6-8
Pain and perseverance is was gives beauty to the victories of our lives, and what gives poetry to the simplest details. In 1 Corinthians 1:27, it reads “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” We believe ourselves sophisticated, we believe our own lives strong with all of our money and our influence, but in reality, the intrinsic value we create is based on the existential impact we’ve made to change lives. Jesus never made friends with the rich, the influential, the powerful. He reached out for the pr******te, the thief, the tax collector, the fisherman, the blind, the sick, the weak. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Weakness is what opens our eyes and our ears to the necessity of understanding that power is not in our hands, and that there is so much more than material measure that plays into our existence. If we come from a place of brokenness, we can see the needs of this world in such a light that the only way now is forward.
“Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8:23-27
So why then would something like Jericho matter in this writing? Because God does not fear of what is to come, and instead, wants to see the process of what you can become through the journey that He will walk you through and to witness the victory to come for all to see. 7 days marks the perfection of Creation, the beginning to end, and 6 days we’ll march at His instruction in faith, through every hardship and struggle, unwavering and strong. On the 7th, for our perseverance and our faith, we shout victory in God’s name, and the walls will fall because of our trust. There isn’t a formula to the strategy or the effort you put in, simply that if you chase after God and listen to Him in humility, and that you run forward without fear, stumbling upwards even if the world would tell you that it will fail. As it’s said, “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12: 1-3
Life was not designed to be a hell on earth, nor a prison that we exist in to tolerate until the day of our death. Sin is the chain that drags us down in the attempt to dim the light of our soul and the happiness that we can find in creation, and it’s our duty to chase after that vision that God wants us to reach for, to show the everlasting salvation we find in the midst of darkness. Without pain, there is no reason to look for the light, and the battle we face is not one that we fight alone. As it’s said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Finally, the greatest lesson to be said is to forsake all pride and belief that we are of our own making. Life reaches to depths that we can never comprehend, a spiritual battle and a story that we are meant to chase after as Jesus died and was resurrected for to free our souls to the power of Holy Spirit. The struggle to reach our salvation is not in an instant, nor will it be easy in every moment, but it’s that struggle that makes everything worth it in the end. God wants something for us that shines above the past, the future, and our present struggles, and He sees us in every moment and wants to help us to claim victory. In faith, we do not ask for instantaneous relief, but the strength to walk the path that would lead us to a greater future. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Isaiah 55:6-13
The world needs hope more than ever, and it can seem like darkness has invaded all things that we cannot run from. But as miracles would show, the Holy Spirit does not operate on winning odds, but instead to show the victorious irony of the weak becoming the strong. In our most desperate hour is when the most beautiful victories will shine, and it’s the calling to act even more bravely than ever before. It will always take more strength and bravery to hold onto hope than it is to give it up. “Take heart, for I have overcome the world,” says the Lord. Therefore, however long it takes and how much we’ll fight through, He will deliver us. God is the I Am, those who love Him will never falter because He is with us, and it is well with our souls. Believe with the faith of a mustard seed, and we can move mountains in His name. There is always a new chance.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm, he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121
The passage of time is a interchangeable enigma: All of us desire to achieve everything we want in one moment, to make the most of life with every second and to feel as if we’ve lived well. On the other side, the journey of achieving that process what gives it the sweetness that we chase after for...
