“How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!” —Isaiah 14:12
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” —Matthew 5:44
“‘I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.’” —Revelation 22:16
For too many years, I would rise in the morning only to have daydreams of laying low all the nations of the earth. Mushroom clouds would obscure my eyes.
Peering into the small screen in my hand, I would too often fix my eye on a world torn to tatters, only to tear myself in two and fall into despair.
For every friend, I would find tenfold enemies. For every hope, there would be a hundredfold discouragements. For every love, I would stumble over a thousandfold hatreds. For every faith, I would hear a millionfold doubts.
Many a morning, on that small screen, I would watch a proud and wicked world tear itself apart, and as I accused the world of wickedness, it would scar and scatter to pieces any peace in my heart.
That’s when, returning pride for pride and evil for evil, I would ponder an unholy prayer while judging the world worthless and lost – and I would look to a rebellious morning star to fall from heaven like lightning on all our heads.
It was a pretty awful way to start a day.
So, I began retreating from the world of the small screen and changed up my morning routine.
I tried to ignore or numb myself to it. I tried food, drugs, drink, sex, silly talk, and the laughter of a cynical dog.
When those began taking their toll, I tried a whole slew of stoic meditations, medications, and self-improvement programs to build muscle and mind.
Yet, for each step forward with my diversions and regimens, I would eventually tumble three steps back.
The world on the small screen would inevitably catch my sight, and the visions of destruction would return with my pride and again cloud my eyes.
Yet now I see what a fool I was, choosing the way of death. Running from wickedness, I ran down a wicked way. The fallen world cannot be ignored or conquered by selfish indifference or silly games. Only by embracing the way of life has my vision started to change.
The world on my small screen is no less mad, no less tattered and torn. Perhaps, it is more mad than ever before. Indeed, when I peer into my small screen, I still see discord and disbelief growing by the day.
I still see war and rumors of wars. I still see a march towards futility and decay. I still see proud indictments served on behalf of the split-brained, desperate, and depraved. I still see a widow mocked, orphans forgotten, and twisted excuses to uproot the fruit of a woman’s womb. I still see science pretending to prove that man should do whatever he wills and live as animals do.
The spirit of our age is undoubtedly that of the accuser and the scatterer – an age possessed and obsessed like Saul with divination, destruction and control – as hatred of enemies and the love of self continues increasing a billionfold.
Yet, despite this suffering and sin I see on the small screen in my hand, my sight is no longer obscured by visions of destruction laying waste to all the land.
The clouds in my eyes have been broken by a light that died in darkness, only to rise higher and burn brighter than the sun. And though the darkness remains before the final dawn, the Light to the World has already won.
What changed? Well, once again, I changed my morning routine. Particularly, I no longer rise to immediately unfurl the scroll of the small screen.
Before the sun rises, I pray to the bright Morning Star. I pray for those I love and for those troubled souls on the small screen who once left my heart in pieces, broken and scarred.
What if we prayed for our enemies and our persecutors every morning? What if we prayed for those who hate us and slander our friends? What if, instead of returning pride for pride and evil for evil, we prayed the scattered-brained and depraved may be made whole again? What if we prayed for those so discouraged that they would deny the miracle of a daughter or son? What if we prayed for those who would accuse a widow out of mere suspicion, or for those who excuse their desires by what the animals have done? What if we prayed for those we consider evil, fools or worse? What if we prayed that they may come to know the Redeemer of the world and shuffle off the yoke of their curse?
The wicked game the devil plays is to pretend he is the morning star most high, that his legions will forever torment the world, and that the best a man can hope for is to see his enemies, himself, and the world die.
But the true Morning Star Most High teaches us neither indifference nor despair – but to love and pray for all, even our enemies, caught in the devil’s snares – else we may be snared, an enemy to ourselves and God, unaware.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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