Light shines! For the good man, the darkest night of trouble and sorrow will have a dawn of hope!
God has not promised that He will intercede to save His people from disaster and pain and suffering, but that He will save them IN them! For those who fear God, the expectation from God can be that there will be an end for trouble, that His people will not be overwhelmed by the trouble, it will not be on interrupted gloom, and that the sky will not always be overcast.
Those who remain dependent on Him in the midst of success, will surely find Him in seasons of distress. Paul and Silas understood this well. Dependent upon the Lord when things were well, and also fully reliant upon Him in the inner prison of Phillipi. There in the darkness arose the light as a result of their songs of praise. Paul saw a light shining through his troubles and was able to say in 2 Cor 4:17, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.” Ahh.. yes! Light in darkness, joy in sorrow, hope in heaven!
And for the godly, light shines IN darkness. It was that way with Paul’s troubled thorn in the flesh, and it was with Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. In neither case was the darkness entirely removed, there was simply light IN the darkness that made hope possible.
My commentary says that, “Light is sown for the righteous” and that “the harvest from God’s sowing never fails!” Yes! We must maintain an honest desire to know the Truth, a readiness to make necessary sacrifices for the Gospel message of truth, and obedience to the truth that is already known.
The purpose, the DESIGN of affliction is to produce an everlasting comfort, and to allow focus on endless days of joy. Who, then, cannot but welcome anguish that is “fleeting”, and gloom which is only “temporary”?
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