I recently shared a story with my son, recalling one of my darkest days. It was more like a dark season lasting almost three years.
As I remember the pinnacle moment, I realize that in the midst of it, it felt like quite the opposite…one of the lowest points since deciding to follow Jesus.
That conversation surfaced as I read about a very specific Day of Preparation - the day Jesus died on the cross. It was literally & metaphorically dark as the full moon eclipsed the sun, the earth quaked, the rocks rent, the Temple curtain blocking entrance into The Most Holy Place tore open & tombs across the land fell open the very moment our Savior died.
Luke 23 tells of many perspectives, but one in particular stood out like flashing lights…v 49 tells us that as Jesus’s lifeless body hung on the cross before his friends & followers, “they stood at a distance watching.” The root means to see with the mind or to perceive.
There will be hardships this side of heaven, but the great question is how will we see?
Their friend & teacher, the coming Messiah, hung dead on the cross. As they stood at a distance watching, I wonder how they reconciled the hard facts before them with what Jesus had promised?
As I look back on that dark season, I wouldn’t want to repeat it for anything, but I can now proclaim with confidence that it was a pinnacle moment! Sometimes it’s in the deepest recesses of hard that our faith grows & seeing through the lens of self reliance dies.
That day was a day of preparation on so many levels, but for today, my revelation is about perception. That day WAS the darkest day unless you knew the rest of the story! Y’all a LOT can happen in 3 days!
I’m not sure what you are facing today, but may this serve to remind you that sometimes seeing can negate believing.
Father, give us spiritual eyes to see! Let us perceive through the discerning lens of Holy Spirit rather than our limiting physical eyes. We come before You based on Your flawless reputation & irrefutable Word! We bear Your name, so we are confident that You will save us! We stand at a distance watching the facts before us knowing that our Father has the power to trump them all!
JUDGES 8:18-9:21
LUKE 23:44-24:12
PSALM 99:1-9
PROVERBS 14:9-10
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