J.R.R. TOLKIEN.

What happens when darkness falls and the waters rise, when the light grows dim and the rock seems slippery? What happens when we cannot see or stand, and our fall seems all but inevitable? What happens when our faith fails us?

I recently re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the books, many characters are placed in seemingly hopeless circumstances, much like many of us might feel today. The message I used to take from the books was, “Look at these impossible odds, but by perseverance normal people can rise to any challenge and gain victory over evil.” But that isn’t what Tolkien is really saying at all.

In short, Tolkien affirms entropy. Things are getting worse and degrading over time. But that doesn’t mean we throw up our hands and give up. On the contrary, our hope in God’s coming judgment prompts us to action. He writes this great line for Gandalf, who says, “Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” The apostles Paul implores us, “Do not grow weary in doing good” (2 Thess.3:13).

We all face what Tolkien calls a “long defeat.” But there is one final truth that stands behind the long defeat. In the background of the story of things falling apart, there is a bigger story of a final redemption of all things, a coming final victory: God’s judgment.

Alan Jacobs summarizes this perspective when he writes, “We fight the long defeat because results are not as important as our Father’s delight. We fight the long defeat because we are not the authorities over ‘success.’ We fight the long defeat because the final victory is coming.” Jesus says, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32).

While we await God’s judgment, our task is to uproot the evil in our own heart and minds and lives, to do the good that is set before us. May we not grow weary of doing good. May we have the courage to uproot evil in the fields that we know. Amen.

(David Trautman, Trinity Anglican Church, Thomasville, Georgia.

©Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA. Advent Devotional, 2018, p.20

Reprinted with permission.)