The Night

In the Willamette Valley, it rains cats and dogs most of the year. It doesn’t snow. It just rains. We get about four months of warm, hot weather in the summer and the end of spring where you’re not afraid to leave your house and are actually able to enjoy the sunshine. During these few months, we get to go swimming and camping. The flowers bloom and that thing, what’s it called? Oh yeah! The sun! He comes out. We don’t see much of him in Salem, Oregon. Other than in other few hot, dry months, we get rain almost every day of the week. It’s cold and it’s wet. Everyone owns a rain jacket and umbrella. It’s just commonsense around here. We know that rain is inevitable. If it isn’t raining right now, it probably will be in an hour. Pain is a lot like that. No matter who you are and how great your life may or may not be, you have experienced it on some level. Some days it’s as small as a bad day at school or work and others it may be something life changing like the death of a loved one but we’ve all felt it. We live in a world where life isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s far from it. Things happen that shack us to our core. They shape the way we see ourselves and our lives. They knock us down and break us and leave us wondering how we will ever recover. We wonder if life is still worth lives. We wonder if we’ll ever laugh, ever feel joy again. Well, we will. In the book of Psalms, David wrote, “weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning,” (Psalm 30: 5). Just as we all feel pain, we all feel joy. We can’t give up on God’s promises while we are in the night. In the night, it feels hopeless. It’s cold and wet and the sun isn’t shining but if we hold on, if we don’t give up, the sun will rise and there will be joy in the morning. David also wrote, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” (Psalm 23:4). God is with us in the night.

I am in the night right now. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, my dad died this summer and because of the pandemic going on in the world around me, my family and I have been stuck in our house by ourselves with no one but each other to talk to and not much to do to pass the time. If you know anything about grief, you will know that the last thing a grieving person needs is isolation and boredom and right now, that is my reality. I spend about five to six hours a day working on school work at my desk in my room by myself and then the rest of the day desperately trying to find ways to pass the time. It sucks but God is still with me and he is carrying me through it.

In the book of 1 Samuel we find a young man named David who was the youngest son of a shepherd in Judah. By the world’s standards there was nothing particularly special about David but God doesn’t judge people the same way that the world does and he saw something special in David’s heart. He loved God with all his heart and God saw that and told him that he would one day make him king over all of Israel. However, at this time, Israel already had a king and when, Saul, the current king, learned that David had been anointed as the next king, he became jealous and trie

d to kill him. David escaped and fled for his life. “David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.

“One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware,” (1 Samuel 23: 14 - 17). I think it’s safe to say that David was in the night at this point of his life. He had to flee his home, living behind all the people that he knew and loved and was being chased day after day but a man who wanted to kill him. It was at this point in his life when his best friend decided to risk his own life and go

to David to encourage him in his faith and to not lose hope. Jonathan was King Saul’s first born son. If God didn’t give the throne to David, Jonathan would be next in line. He had every reason to hate David and help his father hunt him down but instead he chose to stand by his side and encourage him. I

think God must have known that David was starting to despair and decided to send Jonathan at just the right time to give him the hope and strength that he needed to get through the night. Eventually, the night does end. Saul was killed in a battle with a neighboring nation and David was crowned king. Maybe you have reached that point and the sun is finally rising or maybe, like me, you are still in the middle of the night, but whichever point you may be at, God is with you and will give you what you need to make it through the night and you will have his perfect joy in the morning.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The C.A.N Sisters’ Ministry, leave a common below, check out our website, or email us at cansistersminstry@gmail.com.