Meditate is a monthly column in which insights gained from meditating on the Word are shared. We welcome your insights, too, in the form of comments or even your own article. Contact us if you'd like to write a submission for this column. -Editor
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Isaiah 9:2
“Even the dark shall be light about me.” Psalm 139:11
“’Darkness’ in Isaiah 9:2 symbolically means falsities such as existed at that time, and which still exist at this day among upright Gentiles—because of their ignorance of truth. These falsities have goodness stored up within them because they have goodness as an end in view. Those, therefore, who are in these falsities are able to be instructed in truths—if not in the world then in the next life—and when instructed they also receive truths in their hearts. The reason for this is that goodness loves truth, and also joins itself to truth when it is heard.” Apocalypse Explained 526 and Secrets of Heaven 9256 as quoted in the Bryn Athyn Church Christmas Readings for 2013
Nevermind any deliberation about what it might mean to be a Gentile, let alone an upright one or not, I see a reflection of the state described in this passage in my own life. There is a strong inclination in me to condemn myself on account of what falsities I suspect I’m operating under, amidst a thick fear of the outcome if I am to continue to live in that darkness. This mindset is paralyzing, and yet I convince myself it is warranted. Held up to the light that is my idea of God, as formed from passages like this one, there opens a vantage point more merciful than anything I could come up with on my own, one that allows for this darkness and for life to continue flowing. Basically, I hear the Lord saying, “Focus on the good and don’t worry about the falsity; keep good as the end in view and you can trust that I will lead and teach you.” It is useful to “be still” at times and look deeply within my intentions to see whether they are being fueled by good or strictly by self-concern, but being still becomes paralysis when it obstructs the core creative and moving energy in the Lord. There is a desire to have everything about an issue be clear before going forward, but that is entirely unrealistic in the world we live in. The Lord is big enough to hold both the light and darkness: “the darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psalm 139:12). While contemplating this idea, the Lord summed it up pretty well with a comical image in my mind:
© 2013 Chelsea Odhner
Chelsea Rose Odhner
Chelsea is an assistant editor for New Church Connection and an editor and writer for New Church Perspective. She lives with her husband and three children in Willow Grove, PA.