We’ve had a lot of days of thick fog here the last couple of weeks. One Saturday I drove my son to a basketball tournament in the fog and we drove home in fog later that day. For whatever reason, we hardly met any other cars on the drive. It felt like we were the only ones in the world out traveling. I reflected a lot on that drive how fog is like the effects of sin, or the absence of God’s presence in my life. That moment, when the sun breaks through or you drive out of the cloud and can finally see again, is like the freedom we get when released from sin. Suddenly, just like that, we can see the world as it’s supposed to be. We can see the good choice that was not obvious to us before. We just instantly feel better with the sun on our face, lighting up the world around us.

But when we’re in the fog, it can be so hard to remember what it’s like to see. Fog can be so tricky, it can come in gradually to where we hardly realize we are in it until it gets really bad. And then, when it’s come on gradually, and especially when it sticks around for a long time, we can get used to it. We get used to only being able to see a little way in front or behind of ourselves. We get used to the dreary feeling it brings. We might long for the sun, and yet without it on our face, we forget quickly just how much we loved it.

And I think, what’s been standing out to me most as I drive through or walk through this fog we’ve had recently, is how similar it is to sin in its ability to cause us to be self-focused. When fog is around me, I can’t see my neighbors. My world becomes very small, and I can feel like i’m the only one in it. When I feel like I’m the only one in it, I might make decisions that affect others but I’m only thinking of how they affect me because I’m the only one I can see.

Fog, and sin, can make us feel very alone. Can make us feel like we’re the only one whose ever been in this situation. We’re the only one whose been hurt. We’re the only one who has ever felt like this. All things not true. My neighbors are still there, even though I can’t see them. Others have walked these same hard things, struggled with these same sins, been hurt in these same ways and worse, but it’s hard to see when I’m so focused on me.

And fog, and sin, can make it so we can’t see far behind, and can’t see far ahead. I read somewhere just recently how the devil loves to steal away our memories of the past, of the good and bad, that help shape us and help us make good choices. And how the devil loves to encourage us not to think of the future either, especially when we are going through something difficult. It’s a simple mental health practice to think on a hard day: “tomorrow will be better”, and it’s a practice of our faith when going through difficult things to continually think of heaven and promise of an even greater tomorrow, but the devil would like us to just focus on how bad today is. When we can’t see back to all the ways God has loved us, to where we’ve been and what he has brought us through, it’s hard to trust He’s with us now, working it all for good right now. And when we can’t see forward, can’t see hope outside of our current struggle, things get really, really dark.

The good news is, there is a way out of this fog: Light. Jesus came to clear away the fog. “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ” John 1:4-5 “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn 1:5) We need to confess our sins, and ask Jesus for His help and His light will make our fog disappear. But, we rarely can do this on our own. We need others often to tell us the truth that we have forgotten. We need to let our world get bigger than just ourselves. We have to start seeing our neighbors and their struggles, and the pain we’re causing them and the pain they’ve walked through and quit thinking we’re the only ones. Because those people we think don’t understand, they might be the only ones who can shine the light for us. Maybe they can see, a lot further back, a lot further forward than we can right now. Maybe they have been in the fog before, and they know just what to do.

The devil will want us to go alone. He will work hard to separate us from everyone who loves and cares about us. He will convince us we’re better off without them. We have to continually go back to the truths we know from scripture and church teaching. When we’re in the fog, we can’t always trust our feelings or voices because when we are in the fog of sin its hard to hear the voice of truth or see the narrow path. On those really foggy drives, I turn my GPS map on my phone, even driving to a familiar place like my home, it shows me just where I am and just where my turns are so I don’t miss them in the fog. Scripture can do this for us, church teaching can do this for us, when we are having trouble discerning which way to turn or even navigating the most familiar things. Always test everything back to scripture to see if it aligns. God will not ask you to disobey his commandments. The Holy Spirit cannot contradict the words of Jesus. So if you get disoriented or you aren’t sure if you can see, turn on the GPS, open your bible, and you’ll be sure to find your way back home.

And finally, the biggest problem with fog and with sin, is that it can sometimes appear pretty and comfortable. I told someone last week it almost felt like heaven driving in that fog, everything was white and appeared peaceful and calm. Like so many times heaven is depicted on a movie. But truthfully, that wouldn’t be heaven would it. Being all alone? Just sitting staring into white quiet space? It might be nice for 10 minutes. And then I expect it would get boring, and eventually I think it would almost drive you insane, being all alone with no sound, nothing to do, nothing to see. We were created for colors and sound and light and human interaction. It might seem wonderful at first, to be all alone and not have to worry about anybody else in the world. It might seem like freedom to do as you please and not worry about how it affects anyone or what anyone else might think. It’s easy to live life if we don’t have to come into conflict with other people. When we don’t have to share, compromise, put up with the faults of others, it can all seem attractive at first. But after a while, we would see we weren’t meant to be alone. We see we need others just like we need the sun to help our food grow and help us survive. To live forever in the real fog, to live without the sun, would mean death. To live forever in the fog of sin, to never confess our sins, to never admit to God that He is God and we are not, and that His ways are lifegiving, is to die, and forever live without the sun.

The second piece of good news is, once we realize this, once the fog lifts and we can finally see, we will see how God can even bring beauty from the fog. The tree branches, every blade of grass, every speck of dust, is coated with a beautiful white layer of ice. You will never see it, when you are in the fog. But when that fog lifts, you will see how He was using it to make it beautiful all along. But we’ll never see the beauty for ourselves if we don’t get out of the fog.

We’ve got to start somewhere, what’s been blocking your view of the Son lately? What things could you hand over to Him that you were never meant to carry? What burdens can you lay at his feet in confession so that He can give you eyes that really see? Sometimes, we need the voice of another to help us recognize the fog in our life and help to break it free. Have you spent time with the friends and family members that do this for you lately? Maybe it’s time. Because the sun really can shine every day if you ask it to.