“Darkest Hours”

Originally Posted June 25, 2020

Depending on the topic at hand, compromise can be a wise approach. For example, if you’re discussing where to go to dinner and the choices are White Castle and The Russian Tea Room in the New York, you may want to compromise and head for that classic new restaurant in Millburn….”The Millburn Standard”. 

On the other hand, if the topic concerns God’s word and commandments, it’s a different story. In that case, as spoken by the sage Scottish minister in the movie Chariots of Fire, “compromise can be the language of the devil.”

A first cousin to compromise is “appeasement”. Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power in  order to avoid conflict…. it can be good, but often it’s not…. sometimes  referred to as “peace at any price”.  

In May 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as England’s Prime Minister. Chamberlain had tried to appease Hitler by allowing him to annex Czechoslovakia … it didn’t work.  “Churchill spoke the truth, no matter how difficult. It was said that he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. He gave a troubled nation what it needed most—hope…. a reason to fight on. In his words and actions, Churchill reassured a frightened population that they would get through this.”

Those were clearly desperate and dark hours. Attempts at compromise and appeasement just didn’t work. You can never compromise with the devil.  At some point you have to be willing to say NO…. NO FURTHER !!! 

It seems that the hours of indecision prior to that point are the hardest.. times when you think you have options that won’t cost so much… those are the times of greatest anxiety and fear. Once the decision is made to fight, to give all, to not compromise, peace of mind comes…. hey, we may not win this battle, but we’re going down fighting. 

So, let’s stand with God’s truth in our battles today (some big and some not so big)  and know that in the end, God wins. All will be well with my soul…. And that’s really good news.