I left home for an early morning appointment with a hospice nurse at my dad’s nursing home. My father was to be admitted to their program that day, and arrangements were being put in place to bring him home to die. On the way to the nursing home, I stopped at the post office to pick up the mail so that I could read letters while I sat by his bedside on what was sure to be a difficult day.
I walked out of the post office and saw the sun attempting to come up in the eastern sky. The sky was clear, except for a few huge dark clouds directly in front of the sunrise.
“That,” I thought, “is the same eastern sky that will someday split in the twinkling of an eye when Jesus comes again, to gather up His people.” That dark cloud of death that faced my father on that day would vanish when Jesus came. I thanked the Lord for loving me so much that when I was starting out on that difficult day, He used the entire sky to send a message, just for me.
I could not look at that sunrise from behind the dark clouds without thinking about men and women who are praying that God would intercede in their marriages. Their sky has been darkened by the clouds of hostility, unforgiveness, separation, or divorce. Clouds of rejection, fear, and anger have rolled onto their horizon. Nevertheless, the sun will rise again, because the Son (Jesus) arose.
That afternoon, after the arrangements for hospice home care had been made, an ambulance brought my dad home under a cloudless sky. Twelve hours later, while holding the hand of our son, Tom, who had just prayed for him, my dad raised his free arm, pointed across the room, and went to be with this friend, Jesus. All the dark clouds on the horizon of his life were gone in an instant.
The sun will shine again at your home. Regardless of the circumstances, if you do not lose hope and give up on God and pray for your miracle.
I was doing all right until darkness came the evening after my dad’s funeral. My wife Charlyne was still down at my dad’s house, helping clean up, and I was home alone. Suddenly I was thinking about the man who fathered me being gone. Anyone who has lost someone dear can appreciate what I was going through. I had to pull out a copy of the picture I had taken of the sunrise to remind myself that the sun would rise again.
The computer where I type at home sits before a window that faces east. Looking out there right now, all I can see is darkness, but every morning our Creator, the Lord God, brings the sun up at just the right time, and the darkness suddenly folds away. I only need to wait for His timing.
What name does your present darkness have? It might be marriage problems, financial issues, prodigal children, or health problems. Some who will be reading these words are in a financial darkness, unable to pay the bills. Others are living each day in a dark night of depression. The Lord is taking me through the darkness of bereavement.
It is difficult to find our way, walking in the darkness. It is not uncommon to want to question each step, even though God has promised to guide you and to be an ever-present help.
May this be a reminder that the sun will rise again. We have nothing to fear if we will wait on the Lord. When the clouds roll into your life, dark and heavy, may you remember to always look to the promise of another sunrise.
“The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.” Isaiah 60:19-20
God bless,
