Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention. (Psalms 42:5)
As I mounted my bicycle, there was an extraordinary sunrise. Blood fire began above the hills, then it ignited the underside of charcoal clouds. A stab of crimson bled, north and south, along the horizon. Eventually, half of the morning sky hummed in electric fuchsia. The spectacle rushed into my eyes and filled my soul.
Then I plunged my bike into fog. The whole of life was confined to the few square yards my vision penetrated. My riding goggles clouded with dew, and there was little to remind me of God. Thought fragments haunted—the discord of a relationship, the weariness of battling, how cold I felt. Fear loomed. Would a commuter run me over?
I recalled that beyond the fog, the glorious sunrise was growing. I couldn’t see it, but it was there. Fog is a temporary vapor, just as Despair is a malignant spirit, earmarked for destruction. His blockage is brief and doesn’t change the brilliance of Jesus one iota. My hope in Christ will prevail, and Despair will be annihilated in the lake of burning fire. I win, he loses.
Jesus blazes on his throne of splendor. His white-hot love saturates heaven. Rays from this same luminance tinge our world to hint of what’s beyond. No matter what trial blocks my view, the radiance of Jesus is my present, and future, reality. How foolish, O my soul, that you are downcast from a bit of life fog.
Prayer: Lord, renew my burning hope through the burdens of life.