There’s an old saying that I’ve heard all my life that says, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” This saying seems to indicate that when I am going through a tough situation, I should have hope that it will end soon, and I will see improvement in the situation. This saying is from a quote by Ada Adams – “There is a light at the end of every tunnel. Some tunnels just happen to be longer than others.”   

Something I heard got me to thinking about this saying. I’ve heard so many people use it to comfort someone going through a hard time. But I wondered, is that really how I should think as a believer in Jesus Christ? Is He really waiting at the end of the tunnel? Is He there at the end when I finally make my way through the situation? Will I finally step into His light after I make my way through the muck and mire of this world?  

I quickly realized that Ada was wrong. 

The light is not at the end of the tunnel for me. It is in the tunnel with me; every hurt, every tear, every pain is wrapped in His love and light. I don’t have to make my way through whatever situation I am in alone. I draw so much comfort in knowing that my Jesus walks every step of this life with me whether I’m in a tunnel or on a mountaintop. It can be difficult to remember this when things are falling apart; but by focusing on Him I have light IN the tunnel. 

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom should I fear.” Ps. 27:1 (CSB)

“Arise and shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you.”  Is. 60:1 (CSB)

“Jesus spoke to them again; ‘I am the light of the world.  Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness again but will have the light of life.'”  Jn. 8:12 (CSB)

It was a half mindless scroll the day I came across the posts of a friend, I have literally known her as far back as I can remember. She was our babysitter one summer; she drove a fancy blue trans am kind of car; her mama taught me every Bible song from childhood I know and made peanut butter cookies that might make the Pope use profanities. Susan, our babysitter introduced me to Prince and “Raspberry Beret.” Truth be told, back then I didn’t even know what a beret was, much less how you would make one from raspberries, but I knew you could get one like it from the second-hand-store. Susan was with me the time I was swinging and accidentally swallowed a wasp. My tongue swelled and I had a hefty antihistamine dose that caused me to wake up from a nap wondering if I had skipped the summer and already turned 8 years old.  

Through the gift of social media I can keep up with Susan now, and she had taken a trip across the world. Again in full disclosure I won’t lie. I was a tad jealous. Susan was checking one off on my very own bucket list, however, to my satisfaction she had and was posting magnificent pictures to the social media. My mindless scrolling had turned from pausing to stalking. I was enthralled with her pictures and then I came across one with a caption. It asked if anyone knew what the apparatus was located next to the toilet. I smiled to myself, I am somewhat cultured after all, and I have watched the 1988 film “Big Business” so many times I can quote lines verbatim whenever the mood strikes, which is precisely where I learned about just such an apparatus, and “It’s called a bidet.” I even said it in Bette Middler’s voice. 

Then I read the next line in the caption, “It’s not a toilet or a bidet, it’s a foot washing sink.” I stopped cold. I examined the picture, stretched my fingers across the screen so I could get a better look and then I remembered Susan was in the Middle East, the land of my King. 

I immediately translated the foot washing sink in my head into a “footwasher” and then I went backwards in my memory. It was Easter week some years or a year ago and again  I was mindlessly scrolling again and a picture or a text question with a graphic background asked the question: “If you had one day left to live what would you do?” I paused and began to hypothetically answer the question, and then I read the second half of the statement, “Jesus knew and He washed feet.” That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. Jesus on the last day he was to live gathered his people around Him and he washed their dusty, stinky, dirty, sand covered, aching feet. Jesus, fully man and fully God, sinless and perfect on the last day He lived got down on the floor and He was a footwasher. I came back to the present in my mind and I examined the modern day footwasher more closely. I reasoned that feet still get awful dusty and dirty in the middle east and out of modern convenience, placed next to the modern day commode was a footwasher. Low to the ground, humble, and waiting to be used and I realized My King really did come not to be served but to serve and He has called me to do the same, to be a footwasher. 

“What has been will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 CSB

It gets hard some days to stay focused on the good things of this life.  So much is going on that can distract, disturb, and dishearten.  The days just seem to run together with one bad news story after another. I was recently reading in 1 Samuel 7 and was reminded that this is not new.  It may be getting worse and more frequent, but it’s not new, and it’s not a surprise to the great I AM. 

Israel had come out of Egypt, spent years wandering around, and received God’s mercy multiple times.  They had been oppressed by their enemies and experienced deliverance through many God-appointed judges, and now they had Samuel to judge them. Samuel was a dad as well as a judge, but his sons, who he appointed as the next judges, did not judge by God’s standards. They became oppressors of God’s people. Before Samuel died the people rejected Samuel’s sons and said, “Give us a king like other nations have.” 

They did not want his sons, and I think this might have hurt Samuel’s feeling just a little.  I don’t know for sure, but Samuel may have just cried out something like “God, why are these people doing this to me.” That’s what I would probably say. I think God’s answer might have surprised him a little.  

“But the Lord told him, ‘Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. “1 Samuel 8:7-8 CSB

God said this is nothing new. They are not doing anything to you they haven’t already done to me. You feel rejected? They have rejected me repeatedly. They are abandoning you? How many times have they abandoned their faith in me? This made me stop and consider how I react to what is happening to me and around me. What the world, governments, or people do or say to me is not new; it’s not unique. God has already been there, experienced that, felt that – forgiven that. 

Dear friend, whatever your hurt is today, give it to the one can comfort, heal, and support you like no one else – because He has already been there.