Things that are different are not the same....

I recently read a poem by Shel Silverstein, I would like to share it with you here:

No Difference

Small a a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're worth all the same
When we turn off the light,

Red, black or orange,
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So, maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

I don't consider myself one to the devil in the details, but . . . There are a few problems with this poem.

1. God is light, he is in the business of illuminating. He and his word show is how bad we are: "all our righteousness is as filthy rags..." But God and his word also show us how much we are worth: "For God so loved the world..." "I know the thoughts I think toward you saith The Lord, thoughts of peace..to give you an expected end..." "Are you not worth much more than many sparrows...." (I think I paraphrased that last one really badly!) to ask God to do something completely against who he is is ridiculous. God is light and then you ask Him to turn off the light so you can feel better about yourself. What's also really wrong with this is, these poems are what most of our children are learning and memorizing in government schools!

2. The next thing wrong with this poem is that things that are different are not the same. Just because you turn off the light doesn't make them the same. People want to go around blinding themselves to the truth. They walk around thinking if they ignore he problem it will somehow get better or go away. This very rarely happens.  If you are poor, not able to pay the bills, turning off the light is not going to make you the money you need. If we turn off the light it won't change if you are ugly, (although a good set of Mary Kay makeup might help!) turning off the light won't change your skin color, it won't make everything right, actually it might make things worse. Darkness is scary. Darkness brings with it all kinds of creepy sounds. Darkness makes you internalize and not be able to process things as well. Darkness makes the scarier more scary. Also the bible says men love darkness rather than light because their works are evil. Food, Christian, activities don't usually happen after night. People don't build houses in the dark, we don't do charitable acts after dark, typically. The bible also tells of the strange woman who comes out at tight light, as it was getting dark. Turning off the lights makes things bad.

As I read this poem I was sad for our young people. They are in government schools learning this and now you see grown people have problems so they walk in their houses, turn off the lights, curl up in bed and go into depression, they turn off the lights and hope everything will just go awa, but it doesn't. We need to deal with our problems. Actually God says, we need to cast, fling, chuck, our cares upon God. God wants to help us fix our problems and ourself. He wants to be there for us. He doesn't want us to turn off the lights, he wants us to go to his illuminating word and seek his face, trust his word and his way and our life will be so much better than we could ever imagine!