Shechem

My first year of teaching, I had my students try their hand at construction paper Christmas ornaments. Allowed to choose their own colors, I soon saw that we were in danger of running out of bright primary colors. Black abounded, but it seemed to be ignored. In an attempt to avoid running out of the other colors, I took a moment to explain that black makes an excellent backdrop for other colors, making them "pop." Suddenly black became the new favored color. The kids couldn't get enough of it. And the resulting ornaments did, indeed, sport attention-getting color contrast. Black worked for the kids—and, if we embrace it, it can work well in our lives, too.

Spurgeon mentioned black in one of his devotionals. He wrote, "Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of his children's graces, to make them shine the better" (Daily Morning and Evening Devotions, February 18th entry). When in life we suffer darkness, hard circumstances, our instinctive reaction is to turn tail and run, to get out of that valley of darkness as fast as we can. But the truth of that darkness is more than something from which to flee—it is the harbinger of wonderful mercies with which God longs to endue us.

Incredible as it might seem, God, in His own time and in His own way, longs to turn those times of darkness into things of beauty. Case in point, Shechem, a biblical city in which darkness became a fountainhead of many beautiful things. Genesis 34 relates the story of how two of Joseph's brothers, fueled by a desire for revenge over their sister's violation, kill the male population of Shechem. The name evoked horror, becoming synonymous with death and destruction.

But God is the consummate raconteur, He who has every story ending His glorious way. In other words, a story is not over till God has His way.

Backtracking a little, there is something to note before the tragedy wrought by the actions of Joseph's brothers. Shechem bore a history of great significance before that awful occurrence; it was none other than the very place where Abraham, after receiving the promise of the land of Canaan, first built an altar to God. It was a special place, a holy place, a place commemorating God's heart, His love for and promise to His chosen people. But we have an enemy who constantly looks to tear down and destroy the good things God does. We don't have to look any farther than at marriage. A sacred sacrament reflecting the mystery of God's love for His people, it becomes a favorite bull's eye of God's enemy. He comes against it mightily, trying to destroy this emblem of God's love and covenant with His children. Even so, because Shechem's early history reflected a promise of the covenant between God and His chosen ones, the enemy tried his best to ruin the memory of that place. It became a word synonymous with horror and death. This is the point where many are tempted to throw in the towel. Seeing the bad, the hurt, they give up in despair. But we need to remember that after a night of darkness, "joy cometh in the morning" (Psalms 30:5). Black becomes the foil for God's beauty.

Shechem would not always be a name that brought to mind repugnancy and death. Later, Jacob would buy land there—the first property officially owned by God's people in the land of promise—and would also dig a well there, that symbol of God's provision. Shechem became the place where Joshua gathered the tribes to renew their covenant with God. It also became the political center for the Northern Kingdom. Joseph's bones were brought out of Egypt and interred there. Many years later, it held the place of honor as being the site where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well.

But perhaps one of the most significantly glorious things about Shechem is that when Israel was established, it became a city of refuge (1 Chronicles 6:67). It became a place to which someone who had unintentionally killed someone could run to find protection, justice, and mercy. The history of darkness became obliterated in the light of blessing and mercy. In today's Christian theology, the city of refuge, once a place of unspeakable horror, has become a symbol of the safety, refuge, and grace extended by Jesus Christ to all who seek His mercy.

So your way seems dark, paved with painful obstacles? Don't give up. Your story is not finished yet. This is just a blip, a miniscule (if painful) part of the journey. A journey that will eventually take you to plenty (Jacob's well), the fulfillment of dreams (Joseph longed to be interred in the Promised Land), and God's comforting love in every aspect of your life (the woman at the well). God will bring you to His refuge.

Hang in there. Black is the beginning of beauty.

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:2-3).

temptations—from the Greek peirasmos, which means a significant trial or experience that is a test of faith

"For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Psalm 18:28).

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16).

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).