A Melancholy Glamour

Isaiah 42:6b & 7 - "I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness."

This makes me think of Plato's Cave allegory - all are hidden, chained in this darkness... it is familiar and it is comfortable... the shadows seem real and satisfactory - it is enough of a life. Then, this nagging voice, this freed comrade beckons them into the unknown beyond. But it is frightening; the light outside hurts the eyes; alarms the senses.

It is so easy to sit in the dungeon - in the impenetrable fortress of my own version of truth and refuse fresh light.

I glamorize this darkness. I sit here and enjoy my agony, crying, "Why don't you take away my pain, God?" I scream, "It hurts so much!" The not knowing, the blindness, the darkness... "Why do you hide your face from me?" He's silent. So silent.

I glamorize the darkness I tend toward but even as I do it my spirit craves life.

"Ladies and gentlemen/People of the darkness/You've been running for a very long time..."
(Jason Upton - "Psalm 2:12")

Living in peace with the mysteries and shadows of life and hiding behind them are two very different things. When I choose the latter I forfeit the joy of discover and the exposure of my own soul to trasnforming truth.

"Search me and know me, O God."

It is so 'natural' to slide into easy, comforting thoughts; repetitious, logical living; perfunctory but peaceful religion.

It is completely terrifying to contemplate the reality of God.

"Some say 'I'm a man of the evening.'/Others say, 'I'm a lady of the night.'/But God says, 'I'm your Creator,'/And nobody's faster than the speed of light/I'm calling." (ibid)

I can settle down in darkness - grasping small joys - or I can brave the blinding light and receive joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

"...he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen."
(I Timothy 6:15b-16)