Laugh Lightly

by: Mark Fackler

The idea that God would first create the world, then put within it people with potential to mess it up, and then, facing the mess, that God would sacrifice himself (in Jesus Christ) to bring it all back to right - it should astonish us every time we hear it.

From the very first, God saves and restores. Adam and Eve eat the fruit that brings death (Gen. 2:17). They are banished but with a promise of ultimate salvation (Gen 3:15). Cain kills his brother (Gen. 4:8). Yet, Cain is blessed with a family to seven generations (Gen. 4:17ff.). Each sin brings judgment, but through the judgment God is working to make his family flourish. Micah never flinches from the sinfulness around him. But always, there is light and hope. Though they fall, God’s people will rise. God’s fabulous creation will not fall victim to the devil.

A recent book describes the matrix of drugs and violence that has wrecked my home town, Detroit. It’s become a grim and perilous metropolis. Perhaps your life is in ruins. You feel like you take three steps back for every step forward. Maybe you feel like you’re sitting in darkness, alone and afraid. But “the Lord will be light” to those in the darkness. When we turn to God, we will rise again.