“Soulshine” by Warren Haynes
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Matthew 7:25 (NIV) The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
This song’s main hook is a simple blues riff played over a pentatonic scale. It’s nothing overly complicated from a technical standpoint, but Warren somehow manages to immediately draw us in with this simple riff by playing in front of the beat and using dynamic control that doesn’t hide the years he’s spent behind the six strings of his Les Paul. The song settles into a very slow tempo with Warren’s warm baritone vocals immediately inviting us in by way of an opening verse that immediately hits home asking us to consider not if, but when life goes dark.
Sooner or later the storms in life come. They look different for each of us. They have names like layoff, divorce, death of a loved one, betrayal, disease, bankruptcy, miscarriage, addiction…and the list goes on and on. Maybe you’ve been in one of those storms. Maybe more than once. Perhaps you’re in one right now. These storms can make us feel all alone and abandoned. It’s hard to believe how anyone could possibly understand the pain and heartbreak we are experiencing in the middle of our raging storm. But we have someone who can; we have someone who has. We have Jesus. He came down from Heaven to live among us so when the storms come into our lives, we can take comfort knowing He experienced those storms just as we do. And He did! He suffered betrayal, hunger, rejection, ridicule, temptation, and watched people He loved die. He suffered a horrible and brutal death knowing His friends betrayed him and denied even knowing Him. His final moments of life on this side of heaven left Him experiencing loneliness, abandonment, and rejection.
But just as Warren points out in his song, daybreak eventually comes to blot out the darkness. And daybreak is offered for every single one of us. Every. Single. One. There isn’t a darkness that has the power to stop daybreak from revealing itself or a storm that cannot be weathered. Jesus provided a roadmap out of the storm. It doesn’t matter if the storm is of our own making, or we found ourselves in the middle of it through no fault of our own. Jesus made sure we all knew the storm no longer takes us to the grave; it takes us through it. He showed the way out of the storm and with it the light that follows the darkness during our time here on Earth.
Storms feel overwhelming when you’re in the middle of them. You may wake up and find bills are still piling up, your marriage is still over, the cancer hasn’t gone away, and you still can’t call your loved one or kiss them goodnight. The world is broken, and we are broken while we are in it. But as the author of Corinthians points out, we can focus on the unseen, the eternal. We live in a world that is temporary and the pain associated with that world is also temporary. We have someone to comfort us and provide peace in the middle of the storm. And He will provide peace if we simply invite Him in. He is the rock and foundation in this broken world and with Him, you can be assured you will still be standing when the storm subsides and the storms do subside. When they do, you may find your circumstances have not changed, but you did.
Eternity is a long, long time, and as Jesus assured us and went on to prove by rising from the tomb, there is a way out of the storm. We simply have to follow Him. We follow Him by reading His words and putting those words into practice. We follow Him by seeking His grace and understanding when we fail, but more importantly seeking His guidance and support to continue moving forward. He brings peace to those who seek it from Him. That peace can come from reading His words, a random compliment from a friend or stranger, a simple everyday reminder of the beauty found in nature, or any one of the millions of overlooked good deeds being done by our fellow man. And sometimes it comes through the perfect lyrics played at the perfect time inviting us in with a cool little blues riff through an old Les Paul guitar to let us know we aren’t alone in our storm.