Today (December 21^st) at 4:47 pm here in Toronto is the beginning of Winter Solstice, the start of the longest night of the year.  On the brighter side, it is also the turning point of the progression of night.  After this night, the days will get longer and we can look forward to the end of dominance of darkness.  It reminds me of Psalm 130:5, 6.  The Psalmist cries out of the depths of despair as the world around him dissolves into turmoil.  It’s hard to make sense of senselessness.  Here in Toronto, we have been given to senselessness – a 73 year old man wields an automatic pistol and kills 5 people in his building because he doesn’t like the condo board; eight teenaged girls between 13 and 16 meet on social media, and unleash unimaginable violence on a defenseless 59 year old man, wounding and killing him it seems without consequences because they are well versed in the Youth Justice Act; York Memorial Collegiate plays host to a mayhem of teenaged violence, drugs and public sexual escapades resulting in teachers and students alike refusing to go to school to preserve their own safety.  The night, it seems, is long.

In the midst of the chaos of darkness, the Psalmist writes, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”  That word “wait” is the intimate picture of a child wrapping his arms tightly around his parent as he falls soundly asleep.  And in case you wondered, the repetition of that last line is not the expression of stuttering doubt but patient hope.  But note what he hopes in.  It is not law enforcement, or legislative change, or the school board’s actions. It is in God’s unchanging Word, that what He says He will do, and that He surrounds those who trust Him like a legion of angels in the fray of battle.   The deeds of darkness may revel at their dominance, but the longest night likewise signals the hope that God is never late with His judgment and never lapsing in His grace to those who wait on Him.  So let your soul wrap itself around God, and wait for Him more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.