Some of you already know that my pastor of the last two years has returned to his work overseas. An evangelist and long-time friend of the church has taken over the pastorate. He said this morning that he knew we loved him since we asked him to pastor for us even though the last time he was here, he had called us hypocrites.

This morning he also made a couple comments about suicide and I had briefly mentioned the topic in my last post on Anger. He spoke about the kind of darkness that pushes people to commit suicide. Then he contrasted it with the darkness that we face as Christians.

That wasn’t even the introduction for his sermon, so I’m going to insert some of my own thoughts. C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, said this:

A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.

I’m going to abuse those words a little in order to apply them to other dark corridors of life. Christians have faced darker trials than many other people. They have seen the depths of depression and the heights of God’s glory. By those standards – both of them – we Christians of the western world are remarkably sheltered.

Jesus was in terrible agony over his impending death. You have heard about the drops of blood that came off of him like sweat (Luke 22:44). This was after an angel had appeared to strengthen him (verse 43). It took place even though Jesus already knew the outcome of his death. He had prophesied about his resurrection. He had spoken about his work to prepare a place for his followers.

Does that sound like agony that you or I face? Ignatius, a disciple of John, wrote these words as he was a prisoner on his way to Rome:

O that I were already with the beasts, which are ready to devour me! I hope that, ere long, I shall find them such as I wish them to be, that is, cruel enough to destroy me speedily. But if they will not fall upon and tear me, I shall kindly allure them, so that they will not spare me, as they have already spared several Christians, but will quickly tear me to pieces, and devour me. Forgive me for speaking thus; I know what I need. Now only I begin to be a disciple of Christ. I regard neither things visible nor invisible, at which the world is amazed. It is sufficient for me if I but become a partaker of Christ.

His impending death brought Ignatius to an entirely different depth in his relationship with God. Death is not the only way to approach a deeper understanding. At the beginning of Solomon’s Proverbs is an explanation of how dark sayings and wisdom are often hand-in-hand. Proverbs 1:4-6:

To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

Those dark lanes teach a lot. If or when you find yourself in them, don’t despair because of it. It is easy to see yourself as worthless, but even secular people have learned to take advantage of what can be learned. Robert Kiyosaki recommends in Rich Dad/Poor Dad that everyone go broke at least once before they reach the age of thirty.

When you face the dark places, do as C. S. Lewis recommended and don’t give in. You won’t really know how strong it is unless you beat it.

Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose,
God leads His dear children along;
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes,
God leads His dear children along.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.