Time to See the Sun

A few years ago I went through a season where everything seemed dark. The days felt long. I felt tired and weary. Life seemed hard. I lacked passion. I was disappointed. I didn’t know how to move forward. Maybe you have felt that way before. Or maybe you feel that way today. What do we do with the dark seasons? When life doesn’t go as planned? When our pain seems greater than our joy? When we feel broken and don’t want to get back up again?

In my observation, too often we try to ignore our pain. We pretend like everything is fine. We don’t acknowledge the hurt. We don’t talk about what’s really going on – with God or with anyone else. And as a result we don’t heal, we can’t move on, and we get stuck.

I wish I could answer all the questions you have. I wish I could erase your pain. I wish I could make everything right. But life is not that simple.

Even though I can’t give you all the answers, I want to point you to a few verses that show us how to hope in the dark seasons. Listen to what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 11, “The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in the all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come will be futility.” (Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 NASB) If you read through the book of Ecclesiastes you find a very honest assessment of life on earth. The writer Solomon was rich and had every pleasure imaginable, but all the stuff in the world, all the quick pleasures never brought the satisfaction he was looking for.

As Solomon says here, there are many dark days. It is a part of life. And life can be really hard, and really disappointing. But at the same time Solomon is saying to rejoice in every day. I believe Solomon is giving us a warning. Don’t count on the future to make you happy. If you are waiting for what is coming tomorrow you will be disappointed. Yes, today is hard, but there will be hard things tomorrow too.

Every day and every season there are hard things. There are reasons to live in doubt, defeat, and disappointment. But don’t miss the main point of what Solomon is saying. Just like you can find pain in every day, you can also find joy in every day. No matter the day, there is something good in it. No matter how hard the season there is a reason to rejoice.

No matter how dark today is, the fact remains, the sun came up this morning. And it will come up again tomorrow. This is true through the storms, through the clouds, and through the rain. There is no day without some light. There is no night that doesn’t end in morning.

So what do we do in the dark seasons? We find the light. Look one more time at verse 7. “The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.”

Recently we had a warm day with no rain and I took a long walk with a friend. After being inside so long due to the cold, wet winter, a day in the sun felt amazingly good. The fresh air refreshed me. The sun rejuvenated me. In the same way, in our dark seasons, we need to find a way into the sunlight. We need to find our way into God’s presence. And we need to find God’s presence in every day.

My friend if you are weary, troubled, or overwhelmed – I just want to say to you today – it is time to see the sun.