The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - God’s Faithfulness at Nighttime

Episode Date: April 23, 2021

Especially in a time like this, we could all use a bit more light. Today, Jeff explains how we can find God’s faithfulness in the darkness of nighttime, even if it’s just in the stars. Snippet from the Show “God took enough time, even in creation, to create the sun, the moon, and the stars as a reflection of his faithfulness towards you.” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show episode 216, God's Faithfulness at Nighttime. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Well, thank you for joining me again. I'm Jeff Kavins. And every week we try to talk about discipleship and all that that entails, a life of studying God's word and living out God's word, a life of praise, a life of service, a life of worshiping God. And there's so many things that we could talk about, well, we could talk about everything, I guess,

you know, every single thing that our life touches. There's something to be said about living that life as a disciple. do you ever get scared at night? Do you ever feel like when the sun is going down, it's getting darker and darker and suddenly you miss the daylight and you're thinking about that long night, especially during the winter, and your mood starts to change? I know from talking to people, and in my own life, I'd have to say as well, that if you are struggling with something in your life, typically at nighttime, it is amplified a bit. You know what I mean? It seems like it's easier to deal with things in a fresh new morning as the sun comes up. But at nighttime, it can be very, very difficult,

and particularly if you feel alone at night. Our problems and our difficulties in life generally are magnified during the night. I want to talk to you about God's faithfulness at nighttime in this particular episode. And I will remember, remind you, again, that if you want the show notes, all you've got to do is type out my name, one name, Jeff Kaven's, no spaces, and you can text it to 3377. And you'll be put on the list and we'll give you every single week an update on the notes for that particular show. Like today, I've got some scriptures for you that I want to share. And I'm also aware that you might be driving in the car and you don't want to be writing all of this, all of this information down. Okay, so let's

talk about this, shall we? Let's talk about nighttime and the problems that we experience in our life and what God has done in our lives to, I think, encourages us and to give us a sign of his loving kindness and his faithfulness. Isn't it interesting that every spring we go onto what we call daylight savings time? And then in the fall, we lose that daylight savings time. And I was looking this up, and it was really interesting. I read an article on this talking about daylight savings time or daylight time, as it's called, or summertime in some countries, is the practice of advancing clocks typically by one hour during the warmer months so that the darkness falls at a later clock time. The typical implementation of daylight savings time is to set clocks forward by one hour in the spring. and set clocks back one hour in the autumn to return to standard time. Now, it's interesting, and I didn't know this, but the idea to manipulate clocks was first

proposed by, guess who, Benjamin Franklin in 1784 in a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris. The American inventor and politician jokingly, get that, he jokingly suggested it as a way to economize candle usage. That's the beginning of it right there. However, George Hudson was serious when he proposed moving the clocks two hours every spring in 1895. The New Zealand entomologist and astronomer's proposal was driven by his desire, get this, to have extra time to devote to collecting and examining insects. That's right. So every time you, you think about daylight savings time, you know, give thanks for this guy who, George Hudson,

who was interested in examining insects. Though the idea did receive some serious consideration in 1907, when British, a resident, William Willett, presented it as a way to save energy. It was never implemented. And then the German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation starting on April 30th, 1916. And many countries have used it at various times. And it really got to be big in the 1970s because of the energy crisis. Well, I think it's interesting that everybody that likes daylight savings times, they like it not because of the insects and not because of saving candles, but they love it because there simply is more light. And I think we are attracted to light. I think we feel

safer in light. We feel more affirmed and there's more things to do with family and friends and you can sit out by the lake. And when we go back on standard time, typically people become a little bit discouraged because there's more darkness. And in the world that we're living in right now, I think that people really want more light. And so we know you like light, so we'll change the clocks. And that's what we have done. Not me, but we as a world, we've changed our clocks. But what if God created something that would remind you of his faithfulness in the nighttime? What if he, in creation, built something in that would be of encouragement to you during the night, like the moon and stars? I want to talk a little bit about the moon and the stars and the nighttime here from Scripture

and then get into a little bit about God's faithfulness in the middle of the night. Because if this title of this podcast attracted you, maybe you are struggling in the middle of the night. Maybe that's when you are really examining your life and feeling alone and feeling abandoned perhaps. I'm going to give you some scriptures here and I'm going to put them in the show notes. I think that anytime we talk about these issues, we always have to go back to God's word. In Psalm 89, the scripture says, like the moon, it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies. And so we see that the psalmist saw the sun and the moon and the stars as a faithful witness. And nighttime still, because of the reflection of the sun on the moon, still

reflects light. The night reveals the size of the universe and even more. I've had several times in my life where I went outside and maybe I was struggling with something in my life and I went outside and I looked up into the sky and it was a clear sky with thousands and thousands of stars and I was reminded of God's awesomeness and his creative power. And every star is a point of light that is vast. moon reflects the light, even in the darkness. It's like God wants you to know there is always light in the midst of darkness. What would we do if nighttime was just pure blackness, where you literally you couldn't even see a few feet in front of you? I've experienced that from time to time. Maybe you have too where it was so dark out that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your

face. The psalmist said in 147 that God determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names. And so he knows of all these stars that he has created. In fact, every one of them has a name. Daniel chapter 12 says, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above. And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. You know, I'm reminded of what it says way back at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 about creation when it says that God said let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth

and it was so and God made the two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Isn't that beautiful? When God created the world, he knew what he was doing and everything is in balance. It's really tremendous. The psalmist in chapter eight of Psalms, says, when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Isn't that beautiful that David the psalmist is writing about the expanse of the heavens and he

looks at them and he sees that it's the work of God's fingers? And what blows him away is not the stars, but what blows him away is that God is mindful of him. That's something that we can take with us when we're struggling in the middle of the night and we take a look out the window or the windshield of the car or on a stroll in the backyard and we look up and one thing we should conclude is, oh my Lord, how is it that you are mindful of me in the midst of all of this? Because he is. He is mindful of you, even in the darkness. Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he said there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for stars differ from stars in glory.

But there's a couple of verses that really caught my attention. And I want to give these to you. One is Psalm 19. And in Psalm 19 in verse 1 to the choir master, a Psalm of David, it says, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Isn't that beautiful? The stars proclaim his handiwork. I think that that is incredible.

And we know that the stars that rule over the night, they reflect his steadfast love, which endures forever. And when you see those stars at nighttime, you should automatically be thinking about God's steadfast love, His faithfulness, and that He's mindful of you. And if you feel like you're all alone in the middle of the night, the stars should remind you. And the reflection of the sun on the moon should remind you that God loves you and that he has his mind. if you put it that way on you. He loves you as your father. One of the other scriptures that has always been a blessing to me is Revelation 12 in verse 1 and it describes the Blessed Virgin Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant that John saw in the book of Revelation when it says

and a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Isn't that incredible that the very things that God created to display his loving kindness and his faithfulness and his mindfulness of you, that being the sun, the moon, and the stars, all three of those are wrapped up in a description of the blessed Virgin Mary. Let me read that again. And a great sign appeared in heaven and a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Wow. You know what that says to me?

It says to me that when we look at the work of the Blessed Virgin Mary and I say the work meaning God's god's masterpiece in her we see or in her the loving kindness of god the faithfulness of god and he has given her to you at the cross as a perpetual sign that he's mindful of you because he gave you a mother who will intercede for you she will be an advocate for you she is the queen of disciples she's the queen of heaven. She is not God, but she is the masterpiece of God who is described with sun, moon, and stars. And that's one more thing that you can do in middle of the night is when you're struggling with that lonesomeness and struggling with a sense of being abandoned, perhaps, you can be reminded when you look at the stars and you look at the moon, you can be reminded that,

well, God has given you a mother. A mother. who is clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars and you can look up into that vast universe and say thank you Lord thank you Lord for giving me a mother and then pause and just take some time

to pray a rosary pray a rosary in the middle of the night knowing that God is mindful of you so much so that he gave you a mother He has given you his son. He has given you the Holy Spirit in the middle of the night, even. And that is good, good news. When I come back from the break, I want to talk about how this points to the faithfulness of God and how God uses and how the catechism uses God's creative order and the laws that he has put into the universe as a continual reminder of something that you need. in the middle of the night. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Do you find it difficult to enter into the mysteries of the rosary?

What about personally applying them to your life? Drawing from the writings of the saints, the Bible, and Catholic tradition, Matt Frat has produced Pocket Guide to the Rosary, a masterful work that teaches Catholics how to truly meditate on the mysteries of the rosary. how to pray the rosary like the saints, and so much more. If you're looking to deepen your prayer life and improve the way you pray what St. Padre Pio called the weapon of our times,

we invite you to check out Pocket Guide to the Rosary by Matt Frad. To order, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. And we're talking about the faithfulness. of God, and we're talking about how God is still God in communicating to us even in the middle of the night, which for so many people is the worst time of their day when they're going through difficulties, but it's the best time of the day, that is nighttime, when you are actually experiencing everything in a great way. Isn't it something how when things are going your way, you miss the nighttime because you're sleeping so soundly. But when things are not going

your way. You don't get to enjoy that sleep. You're up all night and you're bothered and you're filled with worry and fear and everything else. But it is in that night, in that night sky, that we're reminded of his faithfulness. And before the break, I was talking about the Blessed Virgin Mary. One thing that we need to focus on in the middle of the night, if you can't sleep or you are going through a difficult time and sleep is getting away from you, you need to remember the faithfulness of God. And the faithfulness of God is at the center of walking with God. We serve a God who is faithful.

The Hebrew word for faithfulness is emunah, emunah, and faithfulness carries with it the meaning of steadfastness, long endurance, fidelity. But more than anything else, it carries the concept of faithfulness. Faithfulness is one of the characteristics of God's ethical nature. You know, some people will ask, can I really depend upon God? Maybe God is getting even with me for something. Maybe God is mad and he's punishing me for this or that. But you have to remember, my friend, that at the heart of who God is, he's father,

he's not a father, he is father, he's father, and he's faithful. and he took enough time, even in creation, to create the sun, the moon, and the stars as a reflection of his faithfulness toward you. The scriptures tell us that God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Paul says that in 1st Corinthians. In 2 Timothy, too, it goes on to say that if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Maybe you are up at night as the result of your unfaithfulness in any area of life. It could be at work. It could be raising your kids.

It could be in your marriage. It could be how you're dealing with finances. It could be your proclivity towards worry and fear. If you are faithless, he remains faithful. In Deuteronomy 7, know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. You know that when we as Catholics participate in the sacramental life, we are making a firm decision exercising our will to enter into a covenant relationship with God, a covenant relationship

that he instigated, we respond to, and we say yes in the sacrament. every time you receive communion, you say, amen. God, you are faithful. You are faithful. In Psalm 145, thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds. This is what gives us a firm foundation for living. You know, in the Middle Ages, you can say the dark ages, in the Middle Ages, there was a heresy that arose called nominalism. And nominalism was very dangerous to the faith. And nominalism kind of puts you right back out there in the middle of the night with no bearings at all. Nominalism basically says that God is arbitrary. What do I mean by that?

God is arbitrary. When we say God is arbitrary, we mean that God can do anything he darn well pleases. He can be one way on Monday and another way on Tuesday and another way on Thursday and he can be completely the opposite on Friday. But the question is, is that true? If God is always changing and there's no universals, then what does that mean for me in the middle of the night. If that is true that God is arbitrary, what will your relationship with God look like? St. Thomas had to wrestle with this issue of nominalism, and you know what his conclusion was? His conclusion was, no, God is not arbitrary. God is bound by who he is. He cannot be otherwise. He can't. He is a loving, faithful, covenant-keeping father, and he cannot deny himself.

He cannot go out of that definition of who he is and become somebody else. It's impossible for God to not be God. And so if you understand that in the middle of the night, then your night can turn into an opportunity to embrace him, to embrace him. To embrace him. So God is faithful and His son, Jesus Christ, is faithful. I love what it says in Hebrews chapter 3, when it says that Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son.

You see, the work of Jesus Christ was done from the perspective of a faithful son who was walking according to a faithful father, and this was all directed toward you. So you see, the basis of our faithfulness, the basis of our steadfastness, the basis of our fidelity to God, even in the middle of the night, is his faithfulness.

How could we be faithful if God is not faithful? We're called to walk in God's faithfulness, as faithfulness is an attribute of God, so it must be in our lives as well. even in the middle of the night. It was Habakkuk, the great prophet who said in chapter two, he said, but the righteous, that's you. Go ahead and say it right now.

Even in the car, just say, I am the righteousness of God through Christ. Say it. I am the righteousness of God through Christ. But he says, Habakkuk says, but the righteous will live by his faith. That's the way we live. Even in the middle of the night, when you're feeling down and alone and betrayed, it's in the middle of the night that we walk by his faithfulness. Maybe you can't see what's in front of you. Maybe all of those markers in your life that you have for so many years depended on. Maybe they

have been removed. Maybe you've lost someone in your life. Maybe something has been taken away from you. But you can still walk by his faithfulness because he is faithful. And there's a beautiful, beautiful way that the catechism concretizes this, if you will, if that is a word. But there's a beautiful way to be reminded of God's faithfulness in the middle of the night when you can't see what you normally can see. And that comes from paragraph 346 in the catechism. I'll put it in the show notes for you. Listen to this. I love this. And I'm reminded of this almost daily. it says in paragraph 346 in creation god laid a foundation and established laws we went over that didn't we earlier when we were talking about the creation of the sun the moon and the stars and

in genesis one in creation god laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm now you know what some of those laws are right and most of the time if you ask someone well tell me what's a law of creation? Well, they'll say, well, gravity, of course. You know, gravity is one of them. And is that a law? You bet. It's a law. Gravity is a law. The laws of thermodynamics. And there's all kinds of laws. And if you've been a physics major, you know that in this world, under this atmosphere here on Earth, this very thin and frail atmosphere, there are laws. And there's laws up in space as well. And what the catechism is saying is that is that God, God laid a foundation in creation and he established laws that remain firm on which the believer can rely with confidence.

For they are, now get this. Now keep both hands on the wheel if you're in the car because this is the one of those that will cause you to swerve. It says you can rely on confidence with confidence for these laws, they are the sign and pledge of the unshakable faithfulness of God's covenant. For his part, man must remain faithful to this foundation and respect the laws which the creator has written into it. Now, let's back off for a moment. This is amazing. Would you know what the catechism is saying here? It's saying that all of these laws that have been established in creation. They are signs and a pledge to you. What is it a sign and a pledge of? It's a sign and a pledge of the unshakable faithfulness of God's covenant. Man. Do you know what that means?

That if you go out in the middle of the night and you're struggling with doubt and feeling alone and life isn't turning out the way you thought it would be and where are you God? Oh, where are you? and especially at night, where are you? Well, take out a quarter out of your pocket. Take a golf ball out of your golf bag. Go out in the driveway. And take that golf ball and throw at about four or five feet in the air. What do you think the odds are that that ball will return to your driveway?

What do you think the odds are? 20 to 1? 50 to 1? 30%, 80%, 98%, 98%, what are the odds that that ball that quarter that you flip up into the air that you throw up into the air what are the odds that it's going to come back down and hit the driveway 100 percent you can throw it up five times it'll come down five times you can throw it up 25 times it'll come back down one million times it will come back to earth one million times why because it's a law

that God established at the creation of the world to show you that he is faithful, he is unshakable, and he is filled with faith regarding his covenant with you. If that isn't worth a hand clap, I don't know what is, that is amazing to me. And so if you are really struggling in the middle of the night, go get the goal. golf ball. Go out in the backyard and test it out. Is God still faithful? Yes, he is still faithful. But you don't need a golf ball or a quarter to prove it. It's just a reminder. God has proven his faithfulness by sending his son to die for you, the faithful son. And that's why he told Habakkuk that the righteous will live by his faithfulness. David recounts God's faithfulness in the midst of

his battle with Goliath. Do you remember that one back in 1 Samuel 17? David said, The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. You see, David, David walked according to God's faithfulness in his life. Man, I know that that can be hard, that can be really hard at nighttime but you can do it so when you struggle at night take a look at the sky see the stars and be reminded of god's faithfulness and loving kindness and be reminded of the mother he has given you the blessed virgin mary when you are beside yourself in the middle of the night do not turn on tv that will not work but look to the lord if you cannot sleep if you cannot sleep if you cannot sleep

rise up and praise God and read scripture. That's what the psalmist said in Psalm 119. At midnight, I rise to praise you because of your righteous rules. Now, I invite you, my friend, to do what Jesus said. Jesus said, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Why will you have rest? Because he's faithful. Even on standard time, he's faithful. even at midnight he is faithful at three in the morning just as faithful let me pray for you in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit lord i lift up my friend to you right now and ask you oh god to bless them and i ask you lord to to make them mindful in the middle of the night when they are tossing and turning and cannot sleep to be reminded of the laws that you have created from the beginning and that you are

mindful of us we thank you for giving your dear mother to us in the midst of our darkness and she can stand at the foot of our cross even in the middle of the night. I thank you. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. My friend, God bless you, and I encourage you to go to my website if you'd like, jeffcavans.com. If you're interested in me speaking to your parish during these unusual days, I would be honored. So go ahead and go over there and hopefully we can meet later. God bless you and know that I love you and have a wonderful week.