The Truth is the Light
By Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr.
Psalm 30:5 says, “For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” A songwriter penned, “We are often tossed and driven, On the restless sea of time, Somber skies and howling tempest, Oft succeed a bright sunshine, In that land of perfect day, When the mists have rolled away, We will understand it better, by and by. By and by when the morning comes, When all the saints of God are gathering home, We will tell the story, how we’ve overcome; For we’ll understand it better by and by.”
In this biblical text, there are fundamental descriptions or concepts of our moods and understanding: weeping, night, joy, and morning. We conceptually associate weeping, the result of our distress, with the night or night-time experience. Joy, on the other hand, is more positively associated with the morning or less intimidating daytime experiences.
We understand that the word “night” figuratively symbolizes the adverse situations to include God’s wrath and the negative circumstances that occur in our lives. “Morning,” then, symbolizes God’s grace, goodness, mercy, and all the blessings that come our way in the course of our lives.
Certainly, our lives are complete with nights that are filled with tears and days that are filled with laughter. Some nights find us in sorrow and sadness. Some mornings are filled with happiness and delight. We must understand that the Christian life is neither all weeping nor all joy. Our life is a mixture of bitterness and sweetness. We try to fortify ourselves against nightfall; however, it is going to come in all of our lives. No matter how many moral choices we make, the sun is going to set and the darkness is going to come. Somebody said, “Into each life, some rain must fall.” It seems that regardless of how we plan and structure our lives, we cannot escape the night and weeping that goes with it.
Hymn #393 in our AME Hymnal, written by Thomas A. Dorsey, is a plea to God that He would, “Through the storm, through the night,” lead us, “on to the light.” It is the testimony that even though the night is inevitable, if we can just keep our eyes on the daybreak, we will triumph.
Thank God, we can survive all the phases of “night” in our lives if we keep our minds focused on the “morning.” Our fore-parents never would have made it through their nights if they kept their eyes focused on their pain. However, they held onto the hope of morning. They taught us by example with songs like “I’m So Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always!” We understand the encouragement our parents and grandparents provided were translations of God’s eternal prophecy that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
When night falls in our lives, the enemy seems to celebrate his victory and says so! The enemy, when night falls in our lives, stands on the fringes of our shame and waits to swoop in like a vulture to claim the leftovers. As Christians, though, we cannot continue to fall prey to the “nights” orchestrated by Satan.
Our nights may be long, and we may have to endure much weeping, but there is a morning ahead for all of us! In that morning hour, our spirits rise up and greet the Son, Jesus Christ, who shines on our triumph. Isaiah 40:31 bears record of the fact: “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
The best example of midnights turned into mornings is found in the life of Jesus. He was arrested around midnight on Thursday and began a long “night” of pain and suffering. All night long they falsely accused Him. All night long they whipped Him and mocked Him. All night long they spat on and tortured Him. His night continued through the painful reality of His execution on a cross. Yet early on Sunday morning, Jesus reigned victoriously! There was weeping in the night on Calvary’s side but there was joy in the morning as the tomb was empty. There were disappointment and tragedy on Calvary’s night side but there was joy in the morning!
The Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., is the pastor of James Chapel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
