Silver Linings

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Ecclesiastes 11:7-8

The term silver lining depicts a scene of dark clouds with the sun behind them, creating a bright outline around the clouds. When we look for the silver lining in things we are looking for the good in a situation. Sometimes that is more difficult than we would expect.

Does every situation have a silver lining? I’d say if you live long enough you see that every situation has a silver lining. As we grow, we tend to see things differently. We stop looking at life as what could have been and start looking at it as a blessing. It’s the light behind the cloud that creates the silver lining, which means you’ve first got to live through the storm the see the sun, or light, on the other side.

We see in the book of Romans that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes. This means that as long as we are loving God and serving His will, then all things, even the dark clouds, will be for our good.

C. H. Spurgeon talks about the birth of Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob. Rachel, Jacob’s wife and love, died in childbirth. Rachel wanted to name the child Ben-Oni, which means “son of my trouble”. Jacob, however, wanted to name to child Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand”. The dark cloud in Jacob’s life was the death of his beloved wife, but in the midst of that he saw the blessing of God in his son, Benjamin.

Some of God’s greatest blessings are hidden beyond the clouds, and we just need to look through those clouds and see the sun.