This is Thanksgiving Eve In America and as we begin to prepare for Thanksgiving many cooks have put on their aprons and begun to get at the minimum the desserts ready for the after dinner snack. However the hope of a good meal is only what can be seen on this side of today for today is only the eve of Thanksgiving Day meal. It is the preparation of knowing you have to wait till dinner time to eat that allows you not to worry about the stomach being to full that one feels they might pop. Yet we all wait in anticipation of the feast, knowing that even if one eats no second meal they have had their fill. Yet the following day comes shopping day of the year. It is the waiting that is the issue and it only comes once a year.

As Abraham fell asleep a darkness fell upon him. A darkness that perhaps he could not wake up from so easily for God desired to speak to Abraham as he slept. As fear gripped Abraham in the presence of the Almighty, God told Abraham of time of despair for his people and the hope four hundred years later of deliverance from the land of Egypt. Yet with this prophesy the darkness began to lift because God told Abraham he would not experience this exile from the Promise Land but his children would. He would die and old man.

God gave hope to Abraham of a long life. Yet Abraham would not see the exile of his children in a land far away. This exile would enslave his people eventually. Yet God would hear their cry and deliver out of the darkness of evil land. God had spoken to Abraham many times, but this is the first account of feeling the darkness of God. A darkness of depth and emptiness. Perhaps the feeling Astronauts get in outer space. Nothingness surround you but the universe and yet in this case Abraham was surrounded by God within a great darkness, he could not escape from but had to listen to God Almighty. What God had to say would speak to the children of Israel in the future. Yet it would bring hope of potential deliverance. Perhaps if nothing more this prophecy would bring about hope of a better tomorrow. Yet that better tomorrow would take 400 years before deliverance. The only hope after being stuffed with a meal is knowing for a short bit you can either walk or nap it off.

The time of four hundred years was to give hope to Israelites. It was to bring about faith for some and other wait and see attitude. The darkness of God would cover Egypt yet they would not be sleep but awake. The knowledge of the darkness of God would surround Egypt all but the Hebrew people who would sit in the light of God during one the plagues of Egypt. This darkness would last 3 days and then it would give the Pharaoh the hope of controlling the Israelite people once more because light reappeared. The knowledge of God’s power short lived in three days for Pharaoh, until the next plague.

The knowledge of thankfulness to God comes once a year for many who worship not God the rest of the year. Yet for that one day of remembrance, the light of world dawns with shopping spree the following day. The world being back in control of the hearts and minds of the people. Money being the ticket. Yet God has promised His people a day where feasting and celebration to God will not cease in the world to come. Not in the world of here and now but in a world to come. Each believer as the prepare their hearts for Christmas in hopes maybe the world will get the true meaning of Christ birth this year, the world takes charge with the dash of shopping before Christmas. The hope of thankfulness instead of being stuffed with this things of this world but the things of God. Stuffed with knowledge and wisdom to share the hope of Christ is yet to come. Yes God promise to send his Son again. The hope etched in the heart of every believer. Yet thankfulness and celebration of God’s love only comes once a year. God did not always promise good times, but promised there was light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. He promised an eternity where there is no more sorrow or heart ache, no more sickness or death, and only happiness and peace with Him. Christ went through the darkness of evil to overcome death, A darkness that was not of God but was known by God. The evil of the world is only temporal the hope of tomorrow with faith in Christ Jesus is eternal. Give Christ your heart today by believing in him.

Dear Heavenly Father the darkness of evil is only temporal, the darkness that surrounds you is not a place to fear, but to know your word is everlasting. In Jesus precious name, Amen.