in the Stillness of the Night...

Within the slums, there are people of many kinds who rest in the comfort of their tin walls. Within almost every home, an aroma of chai infiltrates through the narrow streets. During the day, one can walk these same streets and see huddles of men conversing over an array of conversation- children as young as two months gathered together while their mothers are fulfilling duties of housework- families scattered as they attempt to seek refuge from a good paying job that ends up being no where to be found. Yet, something that connects the vastness of inhabitants is that in the stillness of the night all are forced to listen to the groans of an inner voice. There is a stillness that resides within the darkness of the slums—one that disguises itself through a small inner voice of hopelessness. It is not silent to those who know it. It speaks its schemes, its devices in the still moments of those who listen. As fathers lie awake at night wondering how they will feed their family…as mothers wonder if their children will have opportunities in this life to succeed…as children wonder if they will be educated like other kids they have heard about- it holds no bias toward age nor toward gender. The voice taunts its questions—how do I feed my family when begging surfaces as the only means? How do I secure a job when I live in a world of rare opportunity? It carries on to seep its way into one’s mentality—you must beg to survive, you must steal to get what you need, you will never succeed, there is no other option, you have to take care of your family or they will die. As their stomach groans and their strength fades, the voice becomes their means of survival. It shouts within the homes of those who know it, it awakens those who feel it within them, and it paralyzes those who have heard it all of their lives.  

As noise circulates during the hours of the day, those who have accepted its means attempt to aid others in understanding the constant groaning they have learned to hear.  During the day, its displays itself as the beggars on the street, the children extending their hand in need, the jobs that are no where to be found, the drunkards coping through their struggles-as it teaches all to embrace a hopelessness that echoes around every corner. The voice of the night has now taken over the light of day. What can change this inner voice that so many have grown accustomed to understand?

There is another voice that can overpower the one found in the night and display its way through one’s heart. That as fathers are forced to steal and children taught to beg, a voice of the Spirit stirs within their hearts- It holds no bias toward age nor gender- It speaks to all who will listen and gives aid to all who embrace its extended truth. I am a Father to the Fatherless; a protector of widows; I am a stronghold for the oppressed in times of trouble; because you have groaned, I will now arise and place you in the safety for which you belong; I give food to the hungry; I deliver you when you call; I will protect you and keep you alive; I will sustain you on your sickbed and in your illness restore you to full health. 

Fathers now trust in a power greater than their own to take care of their family. Mothers now believe that their children have abundant opportunity. Children now partake in the education of their peers. Beggars cannot be found on the streets. Thieves are no where in sight.

This new voice shouts:  “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” “So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”