The Rising Sun

"But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might."  Judges 5:31b

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Imagine a world of darkness. Nuclear winter, perhaps. Cramped into bunkers underground, around the world, isolated from each other and the land Above, human beings struggle with boredom and family interactions in the light of lamps. Bright Colemans that grate on the nerves with their incessant hissing. Old folks tell the young 'uns about the good old days in the Above. But the youngsters have no concept of day, no concept of sun, no concept, even, of space and air.

Slowly the Old Ones die. The Young Ones grow up, and their parents become Old. Finally -- FINALLY -- enough time has passed, and life can resume in the Above.

Families emerge from underground cement bunkers like groundhogs thinking of shadows. They stand at the entrance to their existence, ready but wary of stepping into the Above.

The light is blinding. They squint and throw up their hands to block the glare. And yet, slowly, the hands come down, the eyes scan the horizon.

No matter what it is they see -- whether gray destruction or a land reborn -- it is beautiful to them. The light touches every feature of the landscape. It warms. It illuminates. It enlightens.

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God's people are called to be like that sun. Bright, warm, illuminating, enlightening, in a spiritual darkness not unlike a nuclear winter. Even after the longest, darkest night, nothing can stop the rising of the sun in its might.