Seasons Of Divorce Volume 1: Seasons Of Loss And Sorrowনমুনা

There are times that can be described as none other than darkness. Divorce is one. There are times you cannot see your way and you feel you have become completely lost. There are times when you cry out with Job that no matter which way you turn you cannot find God, like you have fallen into a deep hole, and the darkness is drawing you down, down, down. That darkness is, like the Exodus text, so strong a darkness it can be felt. I cannot explain it if you have not experienced it. For you who have or are experiencing it, it needs no explanation, you know exactly what I mean.

The imagery found in this very odd story from Abraham’s life can be very poignant for those who experience divorce. Abraham stands before a God he cannot see, having split the sacrifices in half, part on one side, part on the other. Isn’t that what you are experiencing with your marriage…brokenness, a splitting apart, a deep divide? Just as the sacrifices were killed, don’t you feel the death that has sucked the life out of your marriage and devastated the vows you made so long ago? Don’t you find it hard to see God anywhere in it? If you could step outside yourself and look, you would see a heart shattered and broken, a person torn between vows and violation, half in the past, half in the future, mostly in the limbo between. I invite you to take that brokenness and make it a sacrifice you lay before God as Abraham did. You have to protect what you offer from birds of temptation, doubt, despondency, well-intentioned advice, hostility, so many birds that come to devour what you are offering to God. You have to shoo them away, and maintain the sacred portion of your life.

Then, the light appears, a torch passing between the pieces. It isn’t the brilliance that Moses experienced, his face shining as he walked away from God’s presence. Nor is it the overwhelming presence of God at the temple dedication that prevented the priests from standing up to do ministry. It is a quiet, solemn time with God. Not all clear, not all the answers, not even a lovely place to be…but God is there…a quiet glow passing back and forth among the parts of your life, sanctifying the pieces you have laid before Him.