Several years ago one of my favorite bands, Switchfoot, came out with a song called, “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”. The title is also the chorus. I find it to be one of the most edifying reminders for living the Christian life. It’s a metaphor, which points to an extremely encouraging and profound reality.
The Christian Apoligist, Ravi Zacharias, once made a very astute observation. The existence of evil draws us to conclude that God exists. Here’s how he generally answers the atheist, who challenges, “How could God exist, since evil exists?”:
“If there is evil, then there must be good. And if there is good, then there must be a moral law which defines good and differentiates it from non-good or evil. And if there is a moral law, then there must be a moral law giver. But you say that there is no moral law giver. And if there is no moral law giver, then there is no good. And if there is no good, then there is no evil. So, what is your question?”
Genius!
Ravi’s point can be summed up in the title and chorus of the Switchfoot song:
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
Our trials, brothers and sisters, demonstrate that Christ has not yet returned. All the nonsense we see on the news, all the threats of being “Left Behind” by lousy fiction tales based on bad theology, all of the suffering the brethren endure around the world, all of it points to the fact that the “perfect” (1 Cor 13:10) is yet to come!
In other words:
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
Mark 13:21-23
“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
Psalms 79:10
“Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!”
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
Psalms 42
“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember You
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your waves
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands His steadfast love,
and at night His song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
my salvation and my God.”
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
I’ll leave you with Peter’s encouraging words:
2 Peter 3
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
“The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”
Godspeed, to the brethren!
Here’s Jon Foreman, the lead singer of the band Switchfoot, doing an acoustic solo of “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”. Listen for the reference to Psalm 22:
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