Treatise on a Trailer Hubcap

Gleaming Gold in the Gloominess

Morning after morning in January, I awakened a little before sunup to refill the livestock tank with water for the cattle. The cattle had to have water in the bitter winter weather since the ponds were frozen. Pulling on the necessary garb, I prepared to face the subfreezing temperature.

The prolonged dreariness seemed to seep into my bones and psyche. I thought What a rough way to begin a day, depressed and despondent just because of the murkiness of the early morning!

Then as I trudged back up the slight incline from the stock tank, nearing the house, I spotted a gorgeous golden glow. It was only a brief early morning reflection of the brilliant sun on the hubcap of the trailer. Yet the stunningly beautiful, burnished-bronze orb lifted my spirits. It was my gleaming gold in the gloominess.

Each frigidly cold journey back from the stock tank found me looking for the glimmering sphere of radiance. Many of the daybreaks I found myself reflecting on the time in the early life of David. David knew he was to be the next king of Israel but refused to try in any way to depose the deranged King Saul even though the unbalanced monarch sought to kill David. Eventually, David and his men became refugees in the country of their enemies, primarily for the protection of their wives and children.

During a summit with the king of this enemy country, the king reaffirmed his trust in David but explained the men in his government did not share this confidence in the Israeli warrior. What horror when David and his men returned to find their adopted town burned and their wives, sons, and daughters taken captive by a vicious enemy known for ambushing the weak and the fragile to achieve an undeserved victory based in cowardice! On top of David’s awful grief, his men spoke of stoning him. Then the scripture recorded this encouraging phrase as an example to the distressed of the 21^st century in I Samuel 30:6:

But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

David drew reviving power from his interaction with God Himself. David’s psalms often are contemplative prayers, with agonizing questions and complaints from deep in his soul, as David interrogates God concerning his deplorable situation. Without exception, David’s strong relationship of love, confidence and dependence wins out, as David concludes each tirade with the acknowledgement that God can be trusted no matter the circumstance. That unwavering trust provided David gleaming gold in the gloominess.

As we begin observance of what is known in the Christian community as Passion Week, we are compelled to remember the betrayal of Christ, His illegal, unfair trials, ignominious treatment of the Son of God, cruelly brutal torture of the Perfect One, and ultimate crucifixion of the Prince of Peace. A glimpse into the thoughts of Jesus just before the calculated, cold-blooded violence began is revealed in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed,

He (Jesus) went on a little farther and bowed with His face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.” Matthew 26:39 (NLT)

Following the back-stabbing betrayal by Judas Iscariot, the fear of the violent arrest of Jesus incited terror in the hearts of the remaining disciples. Matthew recorded one of the saddest phrases to be heard by anyone in a crisis situation. Matthew 26:56 stated, Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. In His hour of greatest need for support, those to whom He had devoted the last three years of His life deserted Jesus.
               Just hours earlier, during the Last Supper, Jesus Himself had proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Had there been any other way to be made right with God, Jesus would not have needed to endure the shame of the cross. The emphatic statement of Jesus, coupled with His willingness to give His life on the cross, unequivocally declared faith in Him as not just one way, but the only way to heaven. This darkest week in history provided redemption for humankind, the sole way for those who respond to His offer of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

Paul proclaims in his writing to the Philippian believers this passage that depicts the gleaming gold in the gloominess. This week may our meditation on these verses enable us to get an inkling of the sacrifice Jesus made for us and heighten our daily worship of Him, propelling us to obey with a heart of grateful love.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Who being in the form of God,
 Did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

But made Himself of no reputation,
 Taking the form of a bondservant, 
And coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, 
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

Even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8