David Phelps - No More Night

 

As I sat and listened to David Phelps singing No More Night, I was transported deep in my soul to that day when we will be carried away to heaven to finally meet Jesus. I let my heart go with the song and found myself temporarily lifted from the darkness of this old world and imagining what that will be like. No more night, no more pain, no more tears or crying again. No more death, no more darkness. Instead we will live in the light of the risen Lamb. We will be singing praises for eternity and falling more and more in love with Jesus as eternity rolls.

But I wonder, what keeps us from living there now? I know we can't be literally in heaven, of course, but what keeps us from living with Jesus and falling more and more in love with Him as time rolls on? What keeps us satisfied with the darkness of this dismal place? What makes us think that this old world is so much better that we don't even want to go to heaven?

We do have some good days here. Some beautiful days. And as spring begins to return to the Southland where I live, the days are getting longer and prettier. The birds seem to be singing a little more and trees are starting to bud. The daffodils have already begun to stick their heads up through the soil and open their faces to the sky. And I have to admit--it's gorgeous. But as beautiful as it is, there are still friends, this week, who have lost parents, children, and still others who have been diagnosed with cancer. Is that what keeps me so enamored of this world? Not hardly.

Perhaps it isn't so much that I am so much in love with this world as it is that I am afraid of the unknown. Yet, Jesus came to make the unknown known. He came so that we could see Him and learn what the Father is like. He came so that we could learn to trust Him and also trust His promises to us. What was it He said in John 14? Don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it weren't so, don't you think I would have told you? I'm going to prepare a place for you--and if I go, I will come again to get you and to take you where I am."

So maybe I'm afraid of the unknown because I don't really know and trust Jesus. Maybe it stays unknown because HE stays unknown by me. Which would only mean that as I come to know Jesus more and more, I will trust Him more and more and therefore I will trust His promises to me more and more--which makes the unknown known. Suddenly I know perfect Love and perfect Love casts out all fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of suffering. Fear of death. And when I know and trust Jesus, the promises spring to life and I can let my soul sing with conviction, like David Phelps, about a day that is coming where there will be no more night.

May you know Jesus more and more so that you will never have to fear the unknown again. Let Him make it known to you--and you will look forward to that day where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more death, no more cancer, no more darkness--just the Light of the Risen Lamb!