闇と光

Current System Configuration: Trying to accept the fact that vacation is about to end
BGM: FOREVER AND EVER by JAM Project. The ending theme of Super Robot Wars Alpha 2. A passionate yet mellow rock ballad.
Breakfast: Raisin bread and tuna mechado
Lunch: Home-made waffledogs
Dinner: Baked ziti and cheese pizza at Sbarro (was hungry)

"Light creates shadow, light destroys shadow. Such is the transience of darkness."

This profound quote was taken from---believe it or not, a Magic: The Gathering card. (Shadowbane from the Mirage expansion, way back in the late '90s) Nevertheless, it echoes very well how I feel the events of this week have transpired.

My last post here was full of angst and bitterness. Of course, I'm a human being---we all feel that way one time or another. But the prayer that I said was answered. Very clearly.

Instead of getting into the details of how it happened, I think it's just best to say what I think God said to me through His word in a Soul Stop meeting in church just a few hours ago. (Soul Stop is a college/fresh grad fellowship activity our church has every Friday night, see the JZone site in my link bar for details) Instead of blabbing too much about what I think, this time it's best to let the Word do the talking.

Where is God when it hurts?

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, thought the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. / There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at the break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress./
Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress." --Psalm 46

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn..." ---Isaiah 61:1,2

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." --Psalm 126:5-6

I guess the most comforting fact of all is that Jesus Himself felt lonely. On that day, 2000 years ago, He hung on a cross, taking the world's sin upon Himself, and at that time, for the first time in all of eternity, the Father turned His back on the Son.

"Eloi, eloi! Lama sabachtani!"

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." --Revelation 21:3-4

People invariable shun the book of Revelation for its dark and often confusing images--demonic horsemen, legions of abyssal locusts, the Beast out of the sea, the Beast out of the earth, and the Great Red Dragon himself--so much so that they never get to see the wonders at the very end.

The same is true for our lives. Most of the time we stay caught up in the present, mulling over our pathetic circumstances. There's nothing wrong with admitting that we live in a messed-up state---as long as we see how it can make us better people. Many people see darkness as a force opposed to light. I don't see it this way. I see darkness as an absence of light---just as cold is an absence of heat. You don't measure darkness---you only measure light. We don't measure coldness, we measure the lack of heat on the scale that we use to measure heat.

Evil does not balance with good. Good is far more complex than simple justice or mercy. Good has to balance between its own parts. It's when that balance is upset or removed altogether that evil appears--not as a malevolent monster, but as a cold, empty void. The devil is not the opposite of God. He's an insignificant speck who will get his due someday. God is absolute. Satan is not.

At the end of it all, good wins. Light creates shadow, light destroys shadow. It just falls upon us to see that light---to seek it. Yeah, this world is messed up, alright. But it's not going to be that way forever.