Proper 23

It’s not uncommon for those of us north of our 60s to confess an aversion to driving at night. The usual complaint is that the glare of oncoming headlights makes it difficult to see the road, especially if it’s raining. This phenomenon is a sure sign of cataracts, which is an easily treatable condition.

Even after cataract surgery, however, many of the elderly dislike nighttime driving. This is why they might be interested in so-called night driving glasses. These spectacles are usually non-prescription glasses with yellow tinted lenses. They often include some kind of anti-reflective coating. This helps prevent reflections from streetlights and oncoming headlights that cause eyeglass glare.

But there’s a catch: They don’t work very well.

According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the data suggests “that wearing yellow-lens glasses when driving at night does not improve performance. Particularly in the most critical task: detection of pedestrians.”

Those affected might try another option: night vision goggles. But these, too, have their drawbacks. Night vision goggles are expensive. The Banshee Dual Tube Articulating Night Vision Goggle will set you back $5,895. That’s the low end. For better quality, try a pair of the L3Harris Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles, which can be yours for the low, low price of $43,000.

Night vision goggles are also impractical. Some must be handheld. This is not only difficult for a 70-something person driving 55 mph at night, but it is also dangerous. Some models can be strapped to the head using a system of mesh and straps, but the head gear is difficult to manage with arthritic hands.

 But having read today’s lesson from Job, you know that the night vision I’m talking about concerns the dark night of the soul — and no one wants to drive in emotional and spiritual darkness.

Job couldn’t see what was going on in his life at that moment. He couldn’t understand; he didn’t have clarity. All the bad stuff that had happened to him was unreasonable and absurd. He tried in vain to see through the murkiness; he peered into the darkness.

But he was not affected by the glare of oncoming traffic. There was no traffic! There was nothing. No light, no landmarks, no signals, no voice. Job, like us in similar circumstances, is not happy. “My complaint is bitter,” he says.

In this darkness, Job wanders in search of answers. He’s interested where God is while he suffers his afflictions. He goes looking for God. “O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments” (vv. 3-4).

But Job has a problem. He can’t find God: “If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him” (vv. 8-9).

How would you define “the dark night of the soul”? It’s when you can’t find God. And the experience is more common than you might think. This crisis of faith is difficult and painful, but it might be helpful to remember that many have faced it — especially those who take their faith seriously.

Job is the archetype of a person struggling to hang on to their faith, or, like a person in a dark room, fumbling around to find the light switch. Job is the poster child for those who wrestle with the complexity of the human experience and the paradoxes of life.

Job was not afraid to pick a fight with God. After all, when you’ve lost everything, what do you have to lose if you shake your fist in the face of the Almighty? Perhaps you’ve lost a child to cancer, a spouse, your job, your house, your car, your future. You’re down and out, at the end of your rope, so low, so mad you’d start — and finish — a fight in an empty house.

This was Job. “O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me” (vv. 3-6). That, friends, is what you call giving God the business. Job was so mad he’d make a hornet look cuddly. He wanted to get God’s attention, not realizing that sometimes you should be careful what you ask for. God listened and responded — but that’s another sermon.

Job was not happy with how God was running the show, and he wasn’t timid about letting God know about it. Back in the day, President Reagan told this story:

An American and a Russian are talking about their countries. The American starts to brag: “In my country, I can walk into the Oval Office, slam my fist on the president’s desk, and say ‘Mr. President, I don’t like the way you’re running this country!’”

The Russian appears unimpressed and says, “We can do that in my country.”

The American says, “Really?”

“Oh yes,” says the Russian. “I can walk right into the Kremlin, slam my fist on Gorbachev’s desk and say, ‘I don’t like the way President Reagan is running his country.’”

The point to remember when we’re pounding on God’s desk and yelling at God about how badly he’s running the universe is that God is not without answers. Perhaps, God will be merciful and not put us in our place as God later does with Job.

We may not find God on our own, but God will find us. Indeed, we discover that God has not lost us. Job admits as much in verse 10: “But he knows the way that I take.”

God knows the path we take, but do we? Conventional wisdom offers the usual platitudes. We should practice self-compassion and self-care, treating ourselves with kindness and understanding while searching for God. We should reach out to trusted friends, family members or a therapist for support. We should practice mindfulness or meditation to cultivate inner peace and awareness. We might explore creative outlets such as writing, art, music or dance as a means of self-expression and catharsis. We could also drill down and memorize the Serenity Prayer. We might explore existential questions and search for meaning amid our struggles.

That’s all well and good, but in the end, for Job, it was all about God. God knows the way. God knows the way for me. True, healing is a gradual and nonlinear process, which is why we need to be patient and gentle with ourselves as we go through the ordeal. But success requires something more: faith.

It took a ton of faith for Job to admit this, but deep in his heart, he knew it was true. God knows the way that we take. God knows us. God can track us as though we have a GPS chip implanted in our faithless hearts.

What we need is faith to see God when God cannot be seen. Faith will help us to get through that dark night of the soul. And it will help us to see through the darkness.

Members of a Scout troop were hiking the Appalachian Trail. After they’d set up camp and cleaned up after dinner, their scoutmaster told them they were going on a night hike.

The boys scrambled to fetch their flashlights. The group ventured out a short distance from their campsite, just out of sight of the campfires. Then, the scoutmaster called a halt and said, “OK, boys, turn off your flashlights.”

The boys couldn’t see a thing. Their leader said, “Now we wait.”

Five minutes passed, but it felt like an eternity. Darkness surrounded them, like the sea surrounds a swimmer.

“OK, we’ve waited long enough,” said their leader. “Tell me what you see.”

The boys looked around. To their astonishment, they realized they could see each other, and even the white painted blazes on the tree trunks marking the trail. It was a dim scene, but it was adequate. Reflecting the moonlight, the blazes seemed to glow with their own luminosity.

Having allowed the pupils of their eyes to dilate, the scouts had achieved the promised state of “night vision.”

To achieve night vision, you must have patience – and faith. You must know how to wait, and to resist the urge to click on your flashlight. You must learn to trust the darkness that surrounds you and believe it will not harm you. You must have confidence that the gift of night vision will come, in time — as long as the moon and stars above remain visible.

The irony is that night vision allows you to see much better than with a flashlight. The flashlight brilliantly illuminates a single point, but it dazzles your eyes. If you turn away from that projected circle of light, your eyes will have lost all power to pierce the darkness. Night vision is dim vision, to be sure, but it extends 360 degrees around.

And it is enough.