As I read this passage in a fiction book, I found it profound and totally relevant to not only life, but today's crisis. This is an excerpt from Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger~
"It isn't Easter, but this week has caused me to think a lot about the Easter story. Not the glorious resurrection that we celebrate on Easter Sunday, but the darkness that came before. I know of no darker moment in the Bible than the moment Jesus in his agony on the cross cries out, 'Father, why have You forsaken Me?' Darker even than His death not long after, because in death Jesus at last gave Himself over fully to the divine will of God. But in that moment of His bitter railing, He must have felt betrayed and completely abandoned by His Father, a Father He'd always believed loved Him deeply and absolutely. How terrible that must have been and how alone He must have felt. In dying, all was revealed to Him, but alive Jesus like us saw with mortal eyes, felt the pain of mortal flesh, and knew the confusion of imperfect mortal understanding.
When we feel abandoned, alone, and lost, what's left to us? What do I have, what do you have, what do any of us have left except the overpowering temptation to rail against God and to blame Him for the dark night into which He's led us, to blame Him for our misery, to blame Him and cry out against Him for not caring? What's left to us when that which we love most has been taken?
I will tell you what's left, three profound blessings. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us exactly what they are, faith, hope and love. These gifts, which are the foundation of eternity, God has given to us, and He's given us complete control over them. Even in the darkest night, it's still within our power to hold to faith. We can sill embrace hope. And although we may ourselves feel unloved, we can still stand steadfast in our love for others and for God. All this is in our control. God gave us these gifts, and He does not take them back. It is we who choose to discard them.
In your dark night, I urge you to hold to your faith, to embrace hope and to bear your love before you like a burning candle, for I promise that it will light your way.
And whether you believe in miracles or not, I can guarantee that you will experience one. It many not be the miracle you've prayed for. God won't probably undo what's been done. The miracle is this:
that you will rise in the morning and be able to see again the startling beauty of the day.
Jesus suffered the dark night and death and on the third day He rose again through the grace of His loving Father. For each of us, the sun sets and the sun also rises and through the grace of our Lord we can endure our own dark night and rise to the dawning of a new day and rejoice."
AMEN--It's Friday, But Sunday Is Coming!
For His anger is but for a moment,
and His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5