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People of my generation will tell you they can pinpoint where they were on Nov. 22, 1963, when they heard the shocking news that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I was a third grader, putting on my jacket at the end of a school day, when I heard the news. Later in my youth, other violent events seared their way into my memory: the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.—both occurring in 1968. In 1981, the image of President Ronald Reagan being shot took its place in my mind. And on Sept. 11, 2001, the events that claimed almost three thousand lives in New York City, Washington, D.C., and near Shanksville, Penn., immediately blazed their way into my thoughts.
I don’t think that in the future the date July 13, 2024, is necessarily going to ring a bell for me and offer me a foolproof word association choice. But the images of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump will be a lifelong memory for me and millions of other people. The former president’s life was spared that day, but other victims were caught up in senseless violence.
The times when public officials come under attack and the lives of innocent citizens are swept away are dark days in life. When those dark days come, it can seem like God is aloof, taking a hands-off approach to this world. Indeed, two days after the latest assassination attempt, one poll revealed that 80 percent of registered voters agreed with the statement that “the country is spiraling out of control.”
But our world is not spinning on its own. No, on those national dark days—and in our personal dark days, when we experience trouble, pain, disappointment, and loss—God has not withdrawn from our lives. He is still seated on his heavenly throne, directing everything in life for the eventual and eternal good of his church.
More than that, the Lord is present in the everyday lives of his children. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) is the Lord’s faithful promise on bright days and dark days.
That promise empowers Christians to let the light of their faith shine brightly even in the dark days of life.
In the days immediately following 9/11, I confess that I did not get much done in the classes I was teaching at Martin Luther College. Heartfelt conversation replaced the assignments for the day. Listening to one another substituted for quizzes.
One of the themes that emerged from students’ discussions was how people in the community engaged them in conversation while they were working part-time jobs in businesses. “How can you keep working with all that’s happened?” “How do you manage to cope?” Fellow workers and business patrons posed these questions to students preparing for service in the public ministry. And the students seized one opportunity after another to share their faith, speak of their Savior, and explain what their education was preparing them for.
The students were not going out of their way in representing their Lord. They stayed within themselves, simply displaying a quiet confidence in their Savior. But others noticed and inquired.
The same thing can happen when you let your light of faith shine brightly in the dark days of life. As Christians everywhere let their lights shine, the world becomes a brighter place and people have the opportunity to see Jesus, the “light of the world” (John 8:12).
Author: James Pope
Volume 111, Number 09
Issue: September 2024
