"On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was dark." John 20:1Perspectives
3:48am
That was the time when God spoke.
A digital clock glowed on the screen at the front of the plane. A map displayed the continents and oceans we were flying over. A miniature airplane and a red line charted our progress across the world. We were somewhere between London and Johannesburg—that’s all I knew for sure. I was excited about getting to Africa to see this land I’d only known in pictures. Yet, still thousands of miles away, I was already enjoying myself.
Living in a house filled with the excitement of small children, ringing phones, dinner dishes, and an unending to-do list, I was captivated by the stillness and uninterrupted silence this flight provided. When my husband first told me we’d probably spend 20 hours in the air, I was pleased and thankful for a long block of time with no demands, interruptions, or loud noises. Hours into our trip, I was relishing every moment.
I heard no noises but the occasional clacking of the flight attendants’ heels in the aisle. Jerry had just downed his last cup of hot tea and was not nestled under the thin, airline-issued blanket.The sun had long taken its leave from the western sky, offering a golden sealed invitation to rest for those aboard the massive bird. The night sky looked like a thick velvety blanket with tiny sequins glistening in starlight glory.
I knew I should sleep to prepare my body for the time change, but I couldn’t. I was enjoying these moments too much. The silence was too engaging and offered me a unique opportunity to fully embrace every peaceful second. So I kept my eyes open and relished the experience. How glad I am that I did .. . because at 3:48am, God spoke.
I looked out the window at the darkened heavens. The deep, dark abyss of the galaxies beckoned me to commune with Him. I talked. I worshiped. I listened. I listened and then . . . He spoke. Not audibly but obviously.
At 3:47am we entered a tuft of clouds as the pilot ascended to a different altitude. For only a few seconds we were lost in the blanket of billowing whiteness. When the plane burst out the other side, I was blinded. The sun, unseen and unknown moments before, became fully exposed. The wings of the spacious sky carried the brilliance of each robust ray of light, delivering each color of the spectrum to the oval windows of every row. The sun was shining with blinding opulence.
My hands leapt to cover my eyes. I had no choice but turn and look away. My gaze into the plane lasted long enough to notice many passengers were just as shocked by the bright light as I. They were turning over, putting on sleeping masks, and closing their window shades. I watched, for a while, everyone adjusting. And that’s when I saw . . . the clock . . . 3:48am.
Everyone was taken aback by the stark light. I had my eyes shaded by the palm of my hand. We were smack dab in the presence of the dazzling and vivid robust sun, and yet it was 3:48 in the morning.
How could it be 3 o’clock in the morning? Hours so close to midnight never looked like this before. I’d heard of the artic dwellers experiencing this phenomenon but never thought I’d see the wee hours like this. I was completely floored by the appearance of 3:48am from this vantage point.
I guess how you see midnight hours all depends on the perspective from which you take them in.
Perspectives
What’s yours regarding your husband? your children? your mother? your job? your house? today? tomorrow? I admit that entire seasons of my life have carried the typical darkness the 3am time frame normally depicts.
From my vantage point, singlehood was too long, then marriage too hard, and children too much work. From this angle, ministry is laborious and the details of life too meticulous and demanding. Isn’t that what the cloud cover of discontentment always does? Looking at life from this angle always seems to lend itself to the darkest possible version.
So we sit in the dark, thinking that life will get brighter when circumstances change. We are completely unaware that the glorious beauty of God’s plan and purposes are displayed even when . . . especially when . . . darkness is on the flip side.
So what can we say to . . .
The woman whose husband has revealed his affair
The husband who’s loving an alcoholic wife
The parent whose child was lost in an accident
The worker whose inbox just received a pink slip
The newlywed whose doctor says pregnancy is impossible
The teenager who’s not wanted in the clique
The woman who births a special needs child\
The friend that just found out she’s been betrayed in the worst possible way
Why did God—how could God—have allowed it? Really, no rational answer exists. We’ll most likely never fully understand. So until we see Him face to face, we must turn our perspective to take in the best possible view of these opaque days, to see them from God’s vantage point, and to relish His work in the wee hours.
Mary knew about the dark. That’s what is was when she arrived at the tomb on the first day of the week (John 20:1). From her perspective, she could imagine no horror worse than the one she beheld. She saw insult piled on top of injury. Before her lay an empty tomb. The stone had been rolled away, and the broken body of her Lord was gone. She wept in anguish and longed for that which it seemed she could not have. But then she heard her name, “Mary.” Her name only rolled off the tongue in that way from One person. So “she turned around.”
Hear that again. She turned around ... She turned … around.
Her newly focused gaze brought her face to face with the brilliance and the beauty of the risen Christ. What had just been empty was made full with one small but deliberate movement. A simple change of perspective changed her life.
This day I ask you to turn around—to turn your face away from the empty. I ask you to turn to the full, away from the dark and to the blinding light. I pray that God calls your name with such sweetness and authority in the midst of the darkness that you will not be able to help but see His face in your circumstances. A decision to change your perspective, my friend, can change your whole life.
May we be lifted by the wings of the Spirit through the clouds of contempt and complacency so that our eyes behold the greatest of this day and the rest of our lives. AMEN
Discussion Questions:
Background Scripture: John 1:14-17
1. What circumstances in your life have made it difficult to detect that God's presence is with you?
2. How close does someone have to get to your life before he or she sees God?
3. How can you make it a practice to look for God in the regular, everyday rhythm of your life?
4. In what specific way has God changed your perspective about something you feel strongly about?
Answer a few of the questions by posting a comment
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