The Light in the Darkness and a Lasting Treasure
A few weeks ago, we laid my uncle to rest. His funeral was the third I have attended this year and as you know, death is ugly. As you are also well aware, in the middle of a global pandemic, three funerals in a year is not all that bad compared to others’ experience. As a nurse, I have experienced grief many times. However, these past two years have been different. Lately, the weight of grief seems to be stifling. I’m sure you have felt similarly. It’s like the world is groaning under the weight of grief, sorrow, desperation and darkness.
As healthcare professionals we are well acquainted with grief, and now more than ever. We have fought, mostly unseen and forgotten, to keep people alive and healthy in an unprecedented time. However, you are not unseen, nor forgotten. Jesus sees you, knows you and understands the weight of the grief that you carry. He too was well acquainted with grief. In Isaiah 53:3, he was identified as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” You are not alone in your struggle with the darkness.
You, like a little light, have been set in darkness; like a city founded on a hill. You were meant to shine in the darkness. And because we have been positioned to be lights in the darkness, our hearts will be inevitably be grieved as we shine forth into that increasingly dark night.
In Matthew 5 Jesus says,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus is telling us that we will find it very easy to conform to the darkness, to be tempted to let our light dim or burn out. It is so very easy to forget the Son who shines his light within us. And, it is too easy for us to forget our callings and purpose that extends beyond what we see.
The author of Hebrews talks about what it means to live for more than what is tangible. In Hebrews 11, we are given case studies of people who endured horrible things and lived in darkness. Yet, what sets them apart as people commended by God is their trust and hope in the unseen things of God.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the confidence in things unseen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
The world says to us, “Look at the darkness! Where is your God?” However, in response we say, “Here is our God- the crucified and risen Lord. He became one of us. He lived in this dark world and yet overcame it. He was a man of sorrows and yet submitted to the Father, dying and resurrecting to be the hope to this dying world. This is our God. His love covers a multitude of sin and his righteousness has brought the dead to life.”
Before Jesus spoke of us being positioned as lights in the darkness, he began his most important sermon in Matthew 5 which says,
“And he lifted his eyes on his disciples and said: ‘blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.’”
Do you see what Jesus was trying to convey? The matter at hand is not the darkness, but your prize. If you make the world your prize, then so it will be, and this world will only ever suffocate you in its darkness and brokenness. Furthermore, there will be no prize waiting for you in eternity. You only get one prize and you must choose. Who or what will your prize be? This world and its brassy pleasures? Or the infallible and perfect Christ? At first glance he is not flashy or opulent as the world paints herself. He is lowly, humble, meek and acquainted with sorrow. Yet, he is THE PRIZE.
Imagine for a moment that you did not know there was another prize to be had. Imagine for a moment that you clutched after this world because you were unaware that a better treasure waited for you. Imagine that hopelessness. Can you feel the desperation? That this world in all its false hope and broken promises was be best that there is? And then imagine, if you will, that this world chewed you up beyond recognition and spit you out.
Friends, do you see that our patients have been dealt horrible blows? They are living some of the worst days of their lives within the walls of our hospitals. If they do not know or haven’t chosen to follow Christ, this broken and tattered life is the best they will get. What a dark and desperate place to be!
Let me share with you a not so secret, secret. People are desperate for hope. People are hungry for truth. Patients are begging for it. Seriously. If you’re skeptical, let me challenge you to go the NIH website or any journal database you have access to and search, “Spirituality in healthcare.” Count the articles. They’re in the hundreds. Click on a few and read through them. Do you detect a common theme? There are a few common themes that we could spend time talking about, but I want to point out one: patients are longing for spiritual support, for hope and they want their healthcare professionals to play a part in that support.
We can meet that need! Our hope is not misplaced, nor have we been duped. We are heirs to an unparalleled treasure and we have been commanded to share that treasure with a hopeless world. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
Therefore, do not shrink back from the darkness. Do not hide your light to conform to those who are hopeless around you. Do not be overcome by grief. The Lord has overcome this world- all sin and darkness and death. He is the hope of a better future, a lasting and immeasurable prize. Ask the Lord who he would have you share your greatest treasure with. Perhaps today, you can treat more than a broken body, but can share
Written by Sara Danielle Hill, author of Hope in the Darkness and founder of Undercurrents.