Daily Affirmations - Day 1 - The Promise of Dawn: Garments of Praise
This week's Theme: The Promise of Dawn
Day 1: Garments of Praise
…To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3).
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“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
This often-quoted saying is the evolved version of a proverb dating back at least as far as the 1600s. It is often attributed to English theologian Thomas Fuller, though general agreement is that he was not necessarily its original author. Regardless of its source, the proverb is often used to inspire hope in dark and difficult times.
But as with most absolute statements, exceptions may be quickly pointed out. And yet even as I assent to those exceptions and to the underlying pain, despair, cynicism or other emotions that demand acknowledgement, I believe in an ultimate promise of dawn.
This belief is rooted, not in a "Pollyanna" view of life, but in an actual promise from Scripture: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). And it is upheld in pages and pages of Scriptures filled with evidence of a loving God working in the raw realities of human brokenness and suffering.
Yet God does not minimize or dismiss our ashes, our mourning, and our despair— He weaves them into garments of praise. But the process can be long and difficult.
I have sometimes seen my sister, a skilled knitter, unravel an entire section of a project because the pattern was marred or uneven. It takes time and patience to unravel and reconstruct knitting, but it is the only way to preserve the pattern and achieve the desired results.
God does not make mistakes, but He often has to adjust the missed stitches and marred patterns of human choices and human circumstances. We may not see His perfect end, and we may become frustrated, discouraged, impatient, or angry. We may be tempted to quit. But in time we will see that there was purpose in the unraveling. As with Jacob's family.
Jacob made for his son Joseph an ornate robe (a coat of many colours) (Genesis 37:3 - NIV, KJV). But the extreme favoritism, unfairness, hatred, and jealousy in Jacob's family culminated in a cruelty and betrayal that left a young Joseph stripped of his robe (Genesis 37:23), his brothers stripped of decency and compassion (vs. 26-31), and a father stripped of hope (vs. 34-35).
Jacob was later to tell Pharaoh, "My years have been few and difficult..." (Genesis 47:9). Yet in all these terrible wrongs and in the protracted season of ills that followed, God was undoing old patterns— adjusting tensions, and reworking places of dysfunction and distortion into His own design, not just for Jacob and his children, but for the entire human family.
For us, as for Joseph, the night season may be long and lonely. But God never forsakes us. The Lord was with Joseph (Genesis 39:2, 20-21). He is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).
He listens to our cries and our laments. He was patient with Job, but angry at his miserable comforters for barging into their friend's pain with insensitivity, blending their own incorrect interpretations, maxims, and proverbs with the truths of Scripture (Job 16:2; 42:7-9).
Yes, it is often darkest before dawn. And yes, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 - NKJV).
These promises bring hope at a time when they can be fitly spoken (Proverbs 25:11). But God does not call us to gloss over suffering. He knows that garments of praise may take time to be cut and stitched.
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