44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matthew 24:44)
Jesus is both expected in his response and unexpected in his arrival. Timing and presence are two separate things. While he is ever present, his presence is often subtle, muffled, or mysterious.
I have been thinking a lot about what some call the “dark night of the soul”. This is the time when we struggle to see the light – our only hope. Days are absurd and nights are endless as we wrestle with doubt, suffering, and sin. As a man, Jesus was intimate with this state of mind. Ridiculed, gossiped against, beaten, and murdered, he knew more of earthly pain than anyone. And while these never defined him, he never ran away from them but leaned into his Father who just happens to be your Father. Perhaps the lesson in Mt. 24:44 is to be ready in your suffering – to wear it with courage as you await for the timing of the deliverer. He is coming, we just never know when. This is a holy frustration that in God’s economy draws us closer to His presence.
I work with teenagers (pray for me) and I have learned a few things about patience. As they “suffer” through the school year, there is always a point of hope. Whether it be spring or summer break, their deliverance is coming only to be under the cruel tyranny of having “nothing to do”. The point remains that in the harshest of winters and darkest of souls, the summer is bound to come. Some years it arrives in March and others it yawns until May wakes it up.
Today, remember your summer is coming, if not in this life, then the next. Be ready, for He is sure to come to meet you in your life frustration. Summer is coming.
Matt simon blog 