Until Morning by: Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Philor Sr.

 Scripture: Psalm 30:1-5

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
    and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
    restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
    and give thanks to his holy name.
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.

 

Until Morning

This past week, I met a man from Ghana, who was facing some challenging times. When he arrived on US soil 18 years ago, he had high hopes for what his life would become. He thought it would: 1) end his life of poverty, 2)he would meet a mate whom he would love forever, 3) have children, 4) own a home, and 5) attain the rest of the proclaimed American Dream. To be sure, the Lord was kind to this man. He indeed found a job that prospered him, purchased a home, met and married a black queen, and had a beautiful baby girl. But as soon as he thought he arrived at the American dream, it seems like his life turned into an American nightmare. He remarked at how he lost it all piece by piece. He was now experiencing homelessness, couldn’t keep a steady job, was divorced, and has not seen his child in a few years. Though tearful about his current disposition, this man had a secured hope. He looked up at me and said “with all that’s happened to me; I am still sure God exists. I’ve lost it all, but God keeps letting me live. So, I refuse to die until I see my breakthrough.”

His overwhelming passion reminded me that no one is exempt from the dark or strange seasons in our lives. No accomplishment or achievement can veto the weight of a dark night. Every person you know and even the characters in the bible has been faced with a dark night. The problem is a dark night is not limited to time. Some people experience a dark night that last months or even years. At times, some people can think that we are over-exaggerating about our issues. They likely thing that is merely a series of coincidences, but it can’t be a dark night. but I can assure you that all over the land, we are collectively and some individually experiencing a dark night. It’s a dark night when:

·         The price of gas and groceries are at a high

·         Schools are still being used as a shooting range

·         Black and Brown bodies are being improperly policed in these United States

·         There’s been no relief for the people in Haiti or Ukraine

·         The news is telling us we’re heading into a recessions

·         More couples would rather be apart than together

·         Gun violence is still present in our streets.

The weight of our situation can become so burdensome that we wonder if and or when God is going to deliver us. But there’s some good news from the tower that comes from my dear brother, David. David, the famed king and shepherd, had a few dark nights. The text chronicled in before us is in response to what takes place in 1 Chronicles 21, where David went away from the will of God and took a census. This angered God because David was following the inciting of Satan. Thus, God punished Israel for David’s actions. God gave David a choice on what the punishment would be and David chose the option with the shortest timetable. During the punishment, which lasted 3 days, David was experiencing a dark night. Thus, his writing of the psalm. But we have to read the tense of the psalm he’s presenting. David did not write this Psalm in the present tense, this text is written in the past tense. He was writing to praise God while on the other side of the trial. But the text is also tailored to teach us that no matter how dark the night, we can get to the morning.

Whether or not you’re a morning person, this ought to be good news. Not because you can get back to your routine or have your morning coffee. Rather this is good news because even in spaces where we are cause or source of our night seasons, God will still get us through the night. So, we ought to be like David and give God praise. We should be rejoicing and praising God to: For every mountain He’s brought me over and every trial He’s seen me through. For every blessing. Hallelujah, for this I give GOD praise. Even if we’re in the middle of the night, God has brought us through enough dark nights that we can be confident for God’s deliverance and give God praise in the dark night. That’s how the 3 Hebrew boys made it out of the fiery furnace. That’s how Daniel made it out of the lion’s den. That’s how Paul and Silas made it out of prison. That’s how Peter was freed from prison. So, Lets praise God praise God even now. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise HIM all creatures here below. Praise HIM above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

Literally suggesting that no matter my current position or location, does not dispute God’s ability to deliver me. Thus, God is worthy of praise while I’m going through it and after I’ve been delivered from it. Which reminds us that everyone’s dark night looks different. Your job might be your dark night. Sickness might be your dark night. You might be going through a dark night in your finances. School may be your dark night. Because a dark night is that season where you think “what’s the worst that could happen”, and then that thing happens. That’s a dark night. But verse 5 provides us with tools to make it until the morning.

 

You’re allowed to Cry

We have created this superhero mentality that overcomes our ability to be human. We act as if our spirituality and eternal hope in glory makes us void of feeling pain. Amid trials and affliction, our faith is tested. And just because our faith may be tested doesn’t mean we can’t express our humanity. Our tears are precious in God’s sight. I can tell you as a parent, that the world stops moving when my children start crying.  I investigate the “why” and “how” the tears began. Once I figure out the source of their sorrow, I then work to repair the issue as a means of ceasing the tears. I’m sure God is a better father than me and I’m here to tell you, you’re allowed to cry! God is ready to respond to our cry once we are willing to let the tears go. Some of us may be resisting this idea because crying is seen as a sign of weakness, which I understand. As a boy, I was taught to not cry; but rather to walk off the pain, and never let them see me sweat. But I’m freed from that thinking. You can call me weak. Because my bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Furthermore, people wept all throughout the bible.

• Genesis 23:2 says Abraham wept
• Genesis 27:38 says Esau wept
• Genesis 37:35 says Jacob wept
• 1 Samuel 1:8 says Hannah wept. 
•  1 Samuel 20:41 says David wept         
• 2 Kings 13:14 says King Joash wept
• 2 Kings 20:3 says King Hezekiah wept
• Job 16:16 says Job wept
• The entire book of Jeremiah and Lamentations says Jeremiah wept
• Matthew 26:75 says Peter wept
• John 11:35 says Jesus wept

Thus, making crying a sign of strength and we are going to need God’s strength to make it through this night.

 

The Night Can’t Last Forever

Within the Arctic Circle, there are cities and countries that experience extended periods of sunshine and the darkness. This may sound foreign to some of us but parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Iceland and even Alaska experience this every year. I find it fascinating that some people are accustomed to spending between 30-76 days in consistent and constant sunshine in one season which is later balanced by a similar time period where the sun refuses to shine. In the dark times, there is said to be a spike in mania. People often experience burn out with work in the sunny season and can’t find the strength to get out of bed in the night season. The gift of this is that there is a balance and the time has to pass. But this is just like us. That while we are in our situation, it seems long but eventually this time has to pass.

            The wrestle for many with this text is that the night to which the text refers is not a chronological or sequential one. It won’t be over within the next 12 hours. This type of night feels like it could last an eternity.  This night becomes a season rather than a day. That moment when the situation we’re in doesn’t have an end in sight and leaves us feeling hopeless. This text reminds me that while it feels like a dark and dismal space, we can endure the night because though night may feel long, it won’t last forever. This is a faith testing space because it is easy to not waver in our faith when we know how long the night is going to last. But, true faith is knowing the night can’t last forever even though it feels like it’ll never end. When sickness ravishes our bodies, when crises attack, when life seems burdensome, or better yet: when the enemy comes in like a flood, I may not see God approaching to raise a standard against him but I know the enemy can’t outlast the standard.

Which means that the most important thing for us to remember when we are in a night season is that regardless of how dark the night, regardless of how difficult the night has been, not matter how many times we want to give up during the night, it won’t be night forever.

You’re allowed to Cry & Night Can’t last forever

Joy Accompanies the Morning

Family, I believe the Bible is 3 things: divinely inspired, infallible and inerrant. Which means God breathed life into it, nothing within it is wrong and it’s free from errors. With that, there’s sometimes confusion about the translation of Scripture. Some translations are literal translations from the original text, where others are a translation of a translation. Here’s the gift, it doesn't matter which translation we read the bible in, Bible is still those 3 things: inspired, infallible and inerrant. Which means God is still speaking. I said that because based on what God spoke to me in the study; I chose to preach from the NRSV. I intentionally used the NRSV because the KJV tells us that joy comes in the morning. It leaves the approximate time of the arrival of joy whereas the NRSV Tell us that Joy comes with the morning. Which tells me that even if I feel like all hope is lost and I can’t seem to find my way. I just have to make it to the morning! Because the mere arrival at the morning, all I need will already be there.

            PJ Morton, a New Orleanian singer, songwriter, and producer released an album earlier this year entitled “Watch the Sun”. This album, though not intrinsically gospel, has woven in the gospel message to give hope to God’s people. The song whose name matches that of the album gives us hope to continue in the dark seasons of our lives. The song’s chorus are anchored in these words:

Just wait 'til the morning

I know it's been so dark for you

Watch the sun come shining through

Do you believe it?

PJ asked us to watch the S-U-N but now I am asking you to watch the S-O-N.

So family, no matter how dark the night gets keep lifting your eyes towards the hill from whence cometh our help. Don’t be ashamed of the night season you’re in because it is in our night that we find the strength and stability to enjoy the morning. This night season is preparing you for a morning that you’ve been waiting on. So, get ready for the joy in the morning at night. Don’t wait for the deliverance to come, start praising God at night. Join with Paul and Silas, who praised God at Night. Be like Nicodemus, who sought Christ at night. Pray like the church prayed for Peter’s deliverance, at night. And I promise, regardless of the situation, morning is already approaching. And when you get to the morning and you’re praising God for delivering you and making a way out of no way for you; don’t listen to the naysayers. When they are hating on you, saying you’re doing too much, remarking that it doesn’t take all that; remember that this morning has been long awaited. For this is the day that the Lord has made and regardless of what they say, you are going to rejoice and be glad in it.

One day while we lived in Philadelphia, Yasmin, my wife, asked me to pick up pull-ups for Deuce on my way home from work as we were running low. This was a stressful week and I completely forgot. Some days later, I remembered around midnight. While we could’ve made it through to the morning, we were about to do an overnight trip as a family and he wouldn’t have enough diapers to make it through the trip. To make matters worse, I didn’t have the time to go to a store before we left. Now I’m stuck because not only did I forget, I didn’t want Yasmin to know I forgot. I went to my phone to see if there was a 24-hour store I could run to but found nothing available. Then I remembered, in the middle of the night, of a 24-hour delivery service called GoPuff. GoPuff will deliver essentials to your doorstep at any time, within 20-45 minutes. I took to GoPuff, ordered the diapers and fell asleep. I was awakened soon after by Yasmin, who frantically couldn’t find the diapers she asked me to buy. I didn’t have much to say to her but, don’t worry, they’ll be here in the morning. I then rolled over and went back to sleep because I know one thing was for sure, that regardless of what happened, GoPuff promised that it would be there in the morning. Just like I can trust GoPuff, we serve a God who’s never missed a delivery, never missed a package and never runs out of stuck. Since I know that, I have decided that when I arrive at my morning,

I will bless Thee O Lord

I will bless Thee O Lord

With a heart of thanksgiving

I will bless Thee O Lord

With my hand lifted up

And my mouth filled with praise

With a heart of thanksgiving

I will bless Thee O Lord

 

So:

I thank God for the mountains,

And I thank Him for the valleys,

I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.

For if I’d never had a problem,

I wouldn’t know God could solve them,

I’d never know what faith in God could do.

Through it all,

Through it all,

I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

 

While, many are the afflictions of righteous, God always delivers us out of them all, so all I have to do is wait until the morning. And, when my nights comes to an end and this type of morning is not enough, I know about another morning. A morning where the wicked shall cease from trembling and the weary shall be at rest. A morning where we have peace that surpasses all understanding. A morning where Sabbath shall have no end. A morning where all care are passed. A glad morning when this life is over, that I will, you will, we will fly away. Because:

 

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

                        

When darkness veils His lovely face,

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

 

His oath, His covenant, His blood,

Support me in the whelming flood;

When all around my soul gives way,

He then is all my hope and stay.

 

When He shall come with trumpet sound,

Oh, may I then in Him be found;

In Him, my righteousness, alone,

Faultless to stand before the throne.

 

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand,

  All other ground is sinking sand.