God Over Good By Luke NorsworthySample

Day 6: God in the Dark

I used to think Jesus’s words “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8) simply referred to the afterlife reward for those who were morally pure, specifically those who didn’t drink beer or curse. But I no longer think that’s what Jesus meant. This verse just might be about seeing God right here and right now.

Maybe those who see God are those who are not distracted by worries like success, status, and popularity.

Maybe those who see God have eyes that haven’t been polluted by their adamant demand for God to bend to their definition of good.

Maybe their line of sight is unobstructed by their own constructed view of God.

The pure in heart don’t need to wait to see God, because they are open to accepting God right now. 

We don’t say that God’s in his Heaven and all’s well with the world; not deep down. We say: all is not well with the world, but at least God is here in it, with us.

We don’t have an argument that solves the problem of the cruel world, but we have a story. Sorrow, loss, and betrayal were Jesus’s regular experiences leading to his humiliating death. God didn’t step into the best and brightest areas of his created world. In Jesus, God stepped into darkness, into the absence of life and light, into pain and death. In Jesus, God was on the cross, in the tomb. God is in the darkness with us.

God doesn’t stay removed from the world only to show up when things are good, like an absentee father returning after his kid hits it big and now has something to offer him. God is the heavenly parent who stays by our side through all the tearful nights and heartbroken mornings. God is the loving spouse who holds our hand until the hospice nurse says, “It’s time to say good-bye.” 

God doesn’t “show up,” because that implies God leaves. The only thing that ever changes is our awareness. The beauty of the Christian story is in God’s willingness to become ugly. The beauty of the Light of the world is in God’s willingness to go dark. The glory of the all-powerful God is in God’s willingness to be weak.

When has God showed up in your darkness, even though the darkness didn’t go away?