Fidelity in the Dark

Published by

Jeff Reid

June 18, 2014

I am constantly amazed by the poets’ ability to capture facets of human experience. Recently, Emily Dickinson caught my attention with her poem “The Duel”:

I took my power in my hand

And went against the world;

‘T was not so much as David had,

But I was twice as bold.

I aimed my pebble, but myself

Was all the one that fell.

Was it Goliath was too large,

Or only I too small?¹

Two of Dickinson’s phrases captured my attention: “I took my power in my hand…” and “I aimed my pebble, but myself/Was all the one that fell.”

On the one hand, we join the opening of a conquest – not necessarily an easy conquest, but one with the expectation of success. On the other, our abrupt realization of failure. As the pebble’s impact settles in, a haunting question remains, “Were the opposing forces too great, or our strength and efforts too small?” Following close on that question’s heels, “How are we supposed to effect change when the forces of evil are too strong for us to win?”

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and the history of Middle Earth in general, illuminates the path to our answers.

Among the valuable lessons in Middle Earth is the reminder that the battle between Good and Evil does not always appear to end well for the good. Galadriel’s words ring true to experience: “…your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all.”² Gandalf falls in Moria. Aragorn watches the Fellowship break up. During the First Age, the Elves fight a losing battle against Morgoth. The message is clear – our strength and effort cannot ensure victory.

At the same time, we also get glimpses of someone else working just beyond our range of vision. Gandalf perhaps does the best job communicating these glimpses: “Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.”³

Both of these facets converge neatly in the story of Joseph’s life. While the whole is worth reading, the thoughts most to our point gather concisely in Genesis 50:19-21:

“But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:19-21 ESV).⁴

This summation of Joseph’s life presents us three aspects to consider:

Lack of Control – This is another way of saying that, yes, bad things do happen to good people. The easy assumption is that the pain was avoidable, that, practically speaking, we are responsible for the pain and evil we are suffering through. Sometimes this is the case – but not always. Or, as Gandalf puts it, “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”⁵
God is in Control – This is a corollary to the first point. Neither Joseph nor you and I have complete control over our lives because that is God’s role. To paraphrase Gandalf, the Rings in our lives were meant to be. Notice further though, that suffering placed in Joseph’s life was not there solely for Joseph’s benefit – God’s purposes stretched beyond Joseph. This is a point of humility for us – we should not assume our life circumstances are centered around us and our benefit. Instead, we need to recognize that God’s reasons for what is happening stretch beyond us.
Take Action – Despite everything that happens to him, Joseph pursues the next step. These steps all follow God’s directions for everyday life: obey your master, care for those around you, provide for your family. Discerning our immediate responsibilities should accompany recognition of God’s overarching responsibility.

These thoughts are mirrored in a conversation between Frodo and Gandalf:

“‘I am not made for perilous quests. I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?’

‘Such questions cannot be answered,’ said Gandalf. ‘You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.’”⁶

The assessment of Frodo’s strength is accurate – and is often an accurate assessment of our situation. Generally, we are not up to the struggles before us. On top of that, life often seems to deal us a bad hand. However, this does not change our call to use the strength we do have in pursuit of our next step. Simultaneously, we should remind ourselves of God’s overall control. The call to put everything into tackling our tasks is not a call to muscle up and complete them on our own. It is a call to fidelity – to recall who our Lord is, trust in His provision, and follow His directions.

How do you determine when it is time to rest when it is time to work?
How do you determine whether an ambitious task is God’s call vs. your pride’s call?

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1 Emily Dickinson. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson (Avenel: Gramercy Books, 1982), 55.

2 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993), 376.

3 Ibid, 69.

5 Tolkien, 1068.

6 Ibid, 74-75.

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3 responses to “Fidelity in the Dark”

Ben Cabe

June 18, 2014

Many of the Church Fathers said that one must be a poet in order to be a Christian. Elder Porphyrios in a book (Wounded By Love), that was compiled based on his advice to his spiritual children and old recordings his spiritual children managed to get of him talking during such visits, said that “Whoever would like to become a Christian ought to become a poet first.” I think there is a profound depth to this.

I love how you broke this down into three aspects. 1. Lack of control, 2. God is in control, 3. Take Action. So often our lives become out of balance if we don’t consider all three of these points. Elder Thaddeus in a book (Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives) compiled similar to Elder Porphyrios’, demonstrates the perfect balance of all these three things.

Ultimately we must do what we can while at the same time admitting our weakness and trusting God to work in and through us. “Thy will be done”. It seems to me that if we live in this balance between action and trust we become transformed into a different mode of being–because we trust God, regardless of the bad things, and do what we can regardless of our weakness. If we live this way, we can trust that “all things will work out for good”, not because everything will be peachy and happy all the time, but because we are allowing God to work in and through us–the fact is, the “all things” and “good” part of that verse may not be accomplished until after our death.

Thanks for this article, Jeff.

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Lila Fair

June 18, 2014

What perfect timing– I was just re-watching Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and was struck anew by some of the very same thoughts. The lure of the Ring (of all the Rings) was personal power– to literally take one’s power in one’s hand and wield it. The false promise was that one created object could provide its creator with the power to see and to control all ends. In the story, Sauron has great power and the “Great Eye” ‘sees’ many things, but he still draws false conclusions that contribute to his ultimate ruin. In the meantime, Frodo has very little power, stature, or ambition. He knows very well that he is not in control; he doesn’t even know the way to Mordor, he has no skill in fighting, and he would much rather give the burden to someone else. His quest seems hopeless, yet he perseveres and “wins.” I love the lines that Sam speaks about the great stories of the world, the great myths and legends that draw us time and again– he talks about how at some points you don’t even want to keep reading, because, “how could anything good ever come after so much evil?” But we keep reading, because deep down, we continue to hope, just like the characters who “had lots of chances of turnin’ back, only they didn’t.”
I love the title of your piece– Fidelity in the Dark, because it is so relevant to both the Lord of the Rings and the story of Joseph. Darkness is everywhere in the LOTR (Lord of the Rings)– Galdalf falls into Darkness in the mines of Moria, Boromir is “taken” by the darkness of the Ring’s lure, the orcs are creatures of darkness who cannot stand the light of day, great clouds of darkness lead to confusion and despair for the people of Gondor as the great host of Sauron’s armies march toward Minas Tirith. There are mines and caves and tunnels, mists, clouds, and smoke, confusion, doubt, and despair throughout much of the books. The same is true for Joseph– he is thrown into a dark pit by his brothers, and later spends years in a dark prison with no word from God or his family. But it is the Fidelity of Joseph, and the members of the Fellowship of the RIng, that drives them forward and gives them hope. Even when Joseph seems alone and forgotten; even when the Fellowship breaks up and the members have no idea if the “others” are alive and/or faithful, they still push through the darkness of their fear, loneliness, and despair, to be faithful in the task they have been given.
I watched one of the “appendices” at the end of “The Return of the King”, and there were scholars and others involved in the making of the movies commenting on the enduring legacy of Tolkein’s books. One of the ideas they discussed was what Tolkein called eu-catastrophe– the idea (borne out in his books and in so many of the enduring stories of the ages) that something inexplicably and unexpectedly good (right, wholesome, just, etc.) comes just at that point of utter despair after a long period of darkness– the “light at the end of the tunnel”, the “happily ever after”. He saw it throughout the great stories of the Bible as well, including the story of Joseph, and David and Goliath, and the Crucifixion/Resurrection of Jesus. He saw a divinely dramatic denouement in the great tales of old, calling us to be faithful, to keep up hope, to trust beyond what we can see in the dark.

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John Kraemer

June 19, 2014

It’s great to read your posts, Jeff! I can’t wait to read more from you in the future. Upon this post, one verse came to mind in answer to your question: “How do you determine when it is time to rest when it is time to work?” I like what Hebrews 4:11 says, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Another quote which stuck out to me is from Martin Luther: ”Sometimes blessings comes to us through our labors, at times without our labors, but never because of our labors.”

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