Down in the dark, depths of the Earth, amidst the dust and sweat of labor for coal, a sweet bird singing? Can you imagine it? In what some may call “a godless place,“ can such sweetness exist?
As we come closer, in the light of the Davey Lamp, a beautiful little yellow bird, living out its life serving those who don’t know they’re made in the image of God. I suppose you could say “the canary sings his heart out” and I suppose, when the lethal gasses build up and there’s no more air to breathe, the coal miners know it because the canary stops singing, which is a hard thing for a canary to do. Singing means he’s alive. Not singing means you won’t be alive for much longer if you don’t get out of there.
Who’d be a canary?
But there is some comparison with us. We hear, this way and that way, what is being communicated in the various media. It makes us laugh, it makes us cry. We give a warning. ‘We sing in the darkness we laugh in the rain.’ That’s us. God’s children. He takes care of us, we care for them, despite everything. ‘The lights of the world.’ Christ’s canaries. We will, because of Jesus.
The burden we carry is like Jesus burden, ‘that none should perish’ separated from God when He has paid the price for them.
So, with the steadfast and certain hope we go on. The lights of those who have labored long in the harvest field of the world, living their loving lives day after day are going out. Now it’s our turn. To keep the light burning we pay the price.
I needed peace because I was disturbed by the misrepresentation of the truth and the levels of judgement and condemnation in the airwaves presently. Then I read this from ‘Vine’s Expository Dictionary’ as I sought Jesus about the fruit of the Spirit.
LONG SUFFERING: that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger and is associated with mercy and is used of God. Ex. 34:6, Rom. 2:4, 1 Peter 3:20
PATIENCE: the quality that does not surrender to circumstance or succumb undertrial; it is the opposite of despondency and is associated with Hope. [it is not used of God] [so particularly a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in us]
Speaks aplenty.
A Russian emigré in an English newspaper 14th June 20, appealed to the British nation. Don’t do what we did. Your history tells you where you’ve been. We, the Russians, got rid of so much, we’ve lost part of the truth from where we’ve come from and who we are by removing uncomfortable evidence.
‘Year Zero’ing will rob us of perspective and won’t help us in knowing right from wrong.
How many British and Irish men, guilty of involvement in the slave trade, directly or indirectly, convicted of their evil, repented and were saved and gave the rest of their life to God and for good? Don’t let us throw the beautiful baby of God’s handiwork, out with the dirty bathwater. God gives new life and His work of giving life to sinners should not be forgotten when it cost Him so much.
If we destroy what little remains of our history it doesn’t get lighter, it gets darker.
The gauge they are using to measure our lives is a measure that doesn’t measure up. But it’s very popular.
Let’s keep singing sweethearts.
Vaughan Goodchild
YWAM Antipolo Training Center
