So Moses said, "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.' – Exodus 11:4

Today's Scripture Reading (September 28, 2021): Exodus 11

Life coach Sharon Alder says that "All great beginnings start in the dark, when the moon greets you to a new day at midnight." I agree with her, but probably for an opposite reason. Midnight as the start of a new day is recent historical development. For the Hebrew people, the day ended with the setting of the sun, which is probably not a surprising image. The day ends as the sun dives beneath the horizon, but that also means that the new day begins as the darkness starts its reign over the land. By the time we reach midnight, the day is already a few hours old. But midnight also brings with it the promise that the next period of sunlight is now closer than the light that has set at the end of the last day. Dawn is coming, and soon, it will greet us with the comfort and understanding that seems to always accompany the rising of the sun.

But midnight, rather than being Alder's optimistic time when "the moon greets you to a new day," often seems to be the moment when the monsters of life seem to be at their largest, and life seems to be at its most fragile. And for that reason, we need to know that the light, and maybe the solution to all of our problematic monsters, is only a short time away.

But midnight can also be a time of change. It can be that moment when we are at our lowest, and we realize that we cannot go on the way we are any longer. At midnight, we are vulnerable and tired, and sometimes the change that we need to discover can find a pathway into our lives that it would not be able to see in the light of the day. Midnight gives us a chance for a new beginning not because hope reigns but because of the depth of our despair. Midnight sometimes brings with it a great beginning that starts with the moon and the night.

Following on the heels of the plague of darkness comes the final plague, and the worst plague of them all, the plague on the firstborn. And, maybe most appropriately, the plague of the firstborn begins at midnight, when the monsters are at their biggest. But it was also at midnight that both Egypt and Israel received a chance for a great beginning. Yes, it would come at a very high cost, but Egypt would have an opportunity to honor the descendants of Joseph in a way deserving of the one who had served the Egyptians so well. And Israel would find their beginning as a foundational nation of the Middle East. These new beginnings all found their start at midnight, after the darkest night that the Egyptians and the world had ever known.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 12