A Glimpse from the Dark Side

Oh the exhaustion! I haven’t rested in so very long. I’ve lost track of time here. Honestly, I don’t believe time is relevant anymore. I am absolutely miserable. The smells and the depth of darkness here only add to my misery.

I never imagined one could feel darkness - like iron locusts crawling on my skin or a huge viper wrapping itself around my entire body. From head to toe it is such an oppressive squeezing. I think soon my lungs will collapse and I will be finished but that has never happened and frankly, deep down, I know it never will.

Occasionally my master gives just enough slack on these chains to allow me room to roam the varied areas of this place. I don’t think it’s due to his mercy but rather the fact that he’s enjoying torturing some other lost soul at the moment. I always pay for my wanderings but just choose not to resist the temptation...that seems to have always been my problem.

Something else I’ve learned here is there are differing degrees of the darkness but the feeling of it’s oppression remains the same. One time, not too long after I arrived here, my chains of bondage were extended. I really thought I might escape this place! As I ran and stumbled my way in the direction I hoped would lead me to freedom I came to a tall, menacing mountain. I stood, just briefly, wondering what to do and if my chains would allow me to climb to the top. It seemed to me I could vaguely make out a jagged, rocky ledge far above me. I gathered up the heavy weights of my bondage, as best I could, and threw them over my shoulders. Perhaps they would be easier to carry this way.

As I struggled up the mountainside I was reminded of how parched I had been since in this place. Every step I took sent ash into my mouth and up my nostrils and the smell of burning sulfur was almost overwhelming. The only thing that kept me going was the glimpse of a faint light I would catch every now and then. This heavy robe with all it’s outlandish stitching that I once was so proud of is such a burden to me now. Those thick threads of beauty have become burned and frayed and protrude from every seam like tiny barbs of wire, continually sticking into my flesh and scraping my bones.

As I approach the top outcrop of jagged rocks and drag myself up to the edge, through the haze I see movement. I open my eyes wider at the risk of them being filled with that incessant burn that accompanies the ammonia-like atmosphere here. Yes! I see Abraham! He is at a distance but that is Abraham and, now squinting again, even further away I see Lazarus!

Oh Lazarus, you look so well! You are certainly different from when I saw you last, begging at my gate for a scrap of food or a mite or two. I cry out to Abraham to save me but he is no help at all. I just want a drop of water to remove this ash from my throat. The climb here has made my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth even more than usual. My saliva feels like the mortar used to set my earthly terrace floor.

As I begin thinking on those days and the things I took pleasure in for just a second my heart lifts but, almost immediately, there is an even deeper sadness and sense of hopelessness that settles over me. I curse the times I did not listen to the word that told me how I should live...and I curse Abraham for not having compassion on my tormented person now! As he had stated, I notice through the haze there is a great canyon dividing this hell I am in from the place of beauty I vaguely see afar. Just as I’m plotting a way across I hear a noise that brings fear to the forefront in all of his fury.

Suddenly those chains over my shoulders begin whirling in every direction. They wrap themselves around my neck, arms, body and finally my feet, crashing me to the rocky ground in agony. In a cloud of dust and ash I tumble, head over heels, down the mountain hitting every rock and boulder on my decent. Oh I wish I would fall unconscious with every blow to my head and back but I’ve been in this place long enough to know that will never happen. Death would be my friend here - but there are no friends here - and as my tortured body slams at the feet of my master I think of my brothers. The lashing I am about to receive will be theirs one day. I’ve always heard it said that misery loves company but there is no love found in this place either. If I could escape at the expense of every brother I had I would do so.

Curious? Find the real story in the Bible - the book of Luke chapter16 verses 19-31

Choose Christ.pdf

Download PDF • 75KB