Even in the midst of the decline in our culture, we still have reason to hope.  The reason for hope is not Christian Transformationalism or some type of Kuyperian Neo-Calvinism. The Bible and providential history teach otherwise.  It is always darkest just before the light shines.  When culture is at its lowest point and men weep in sorrow, then God often intervenes providentially to change everything.  The evidence of this is found in the Bible and in providential history.

I was watching the game show Chase on TV last week and a contestant, a man with a red beard, was anxious to get home and share his prize with his husband.  Yes, you heard me right, his husband!  I thought I had heard it wrong the first time, but he verified my suspicion when he repeated himself, and went on to say that his husband was also an ordained minister.  It was a first on a family TV show for me!  The moral compass of America is pointed directly south.

It has always been my contention that the blame for the normalcy of debauchery in America lies at the feet of the church.  The church is no longer the salt of the earth.  The church rejected the relevancy of Law of God (both ecclesiastically and politically), and modern America is the consequence of that rejection. The church became pietistic, and now we hear from a seminary professor (of my alma mater) that there is no such thing as a Christian world-and-life view.

However, even in the midst of the decline in our culture, we still have reason to hope.  The reason for hope is not Christian Transformationalism or some type of Kuyperian Neo-Calvinism. The Bible and providential history teach otherwise.  It is always darkest just before the light shines.  When culture is at its lowest point and men weep in sorrow, then God often intervenes providentially to change everything.  The evidence of this is found in the Bible and in providential history.

Remember that victory often follows defeat. Pessimism is no friend of God’s people. The 10 spies told Moses that the giants in the land were just too big.  Joshua and Caleb responded that Israel should not be afraid of their enemies.  Actually, their enemies were afraid of them!  By faith they would conquer the Promised Land.  It would be a battle, but God always wins.  It is always darkest just before the light shines.

Christ was persecuted and murdered.  He was taken down from the cross and His body lay in a borrowed grave.  Yet, He would come forth from the grave and ascend into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father. His church would turn the world upside down. It is always darkest just before the light shines.

Nero put Christians to death in the Coliseum at Rome.  It was awful.  However, a few hundred years later, the Emperor Constantine would be converted and Christianity would change the Roman Empire.  It is always darkest just before the light shines.

Before Luther, the church saw dark days.  Immorality was rampant among the clergy.  The doctrine of Purgatory made slaves of the people.  However, there followed a Reformation that changed the west.  It is always darkest just before the light shines.

The modern culture of America is wallowing in a moral cesspool.  However, even we are not without encouraging signs.  Homeschooling is growing.  Calvinism is spreading.  Good Christian books are being published every day.  There are many living in America who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Are we living in a hopeless age and the only answer to our depression is a rapture, or even death since we are strangers here just passing through a foreign land?  Don’t forget the children and the grandchildren!  They have to carry on once we are gone.

When you are tempted to weep and cry for them and their future, tell them the stories about Joshua and Caleb.  Tell them how bad Nero was and then tell them about the conversion of the Emperor Constantine.  Tell them about Roman Catholicism before the Reformation and then tell them about Luther, Calvin, and Knox.  Tell them that even though the present days are dark, that God is sovereign and God has declared victory against darkness.

Who knows what blessings God has in store for His elect in the days to come.  This is not a triumphalistic theonomy.  This is just the story of both the Bible and providential history.  Tell them that it is always darkest just before the light shines.

Larry E. Ball is an Honorably Retired Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee