Bifröst is a curious word that fans of Marvel comics and Norse mythology are no doubt familiar with. In Norse legends, Bifröst refers to the bridge that connects Asgard with Midgard. Midgard refers to Earth and the realm of men, while Asgard was comparable to Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. Asgard had many realms including Valhalla, Thrudheim and Breidablik. In these realms lived Thor and the other gods, including those mortals slain in battle (i.e., the honored, righteous dead.) To ascend to Asgard, one had to transverse a shaky bridge called Bifröst connecting heaven and earth. Conventional thought through the ages considered the bridge to be a rainbow, though some scholars and sources believe it to be a reference to the Milky Way. The Bifrost Bridge is “very closely connected to the myth of the apocalyptic event of Ragnarök.” This becomes the road home for VIking warriors.
I don’t want to dwell too much on Norse mythology here, but you can find good sources of information on the Web. I do want to comment on the featured photo for this post. I was very pleased to be able to find this photo, with has a subtle play between the shroud of darkness in the foreground and the celestial light in the background. I believe that metaphoically speaking, our world is presently in spiritual darkness. Part of this is our making, with the appetite for the supernatural and the occult that many Americans have, the lack or moral and sexual boundaries and the prevalent “Do what thou wilt” mentality. But I also believe that we’re in the waning hours of this world and of this age. God has provided us with a light (Jesus) to guide us, but many prefer to stumble about in darkness while others with ungodly temperaments plan and implement their evil designs in darkness, following their leader, the Prince of Darkness. Yet, God sees all.
So, picture yourself driving on a smooth road towards your destination, your home. You can almost picture the road arching upwards to the stars, to the Milky Way, to the Bifröst Bridge as in the feature photo of this post. The meteors in the photo compliment the theme in my opinion because they originate from roughly the same celestrial coordinates. It’s as if there is a wormhole about to appear which will transport you across time and space to your heavenly destination. That may not be the way many Christians understand it, but as an hypothesis, it’s as plausible as any I suppose.
Lost
Too often we get lost in life. This asumes that they are on the right part with a destination in mind and they take a wrong turn. But some never begin on a specific path to start with. They just wander here and about aimessly. So, sometimes we don’t know which way to choose. The famous early Middle Ages author Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote once:
“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost. It is a hard thing to speak of, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood was, so that thinking of it recreates the fear.”
Divine Comedy
The website Curious Matter explains Dante’s quote this way:
“We all suffer times of crisis. The exigency may be physical, spiritual, or psychological. We feel helpless and lost, unsure of what to do to extricate ourselves from the darkness that surrounds us. We lose our bearings. All directions seem the same. We sense the danger lurking in the shadows—whether seen or felt—will harm us if it is not conquered. We may panic, run, or flail about blindly trying to force a way out, often making our situation worse for our efforts. During these times of stress we need a sign, a light, some form of guidance or physical help to free us from the strain and confusion.”
https://curiousmatter.org/a-dark-wood/
People commonly lose their way. A failed marriage, a teenage girl with an unwanted pregnancy or the miscarriage of a longed for child in an infertile woman. Some people lose their way through addiction to drugs or alcohol, or pressures at work. Money. It can be anything. They feel trapped and like people in a maze or a burning building, they can’t find the exit. Or, like someone in a car that plunges off of a bridge, they panic and do the very worst thing (and often sometimes, doing nothing is the worst thing.)
I’ve known someone who became addicted to pain medicine following back surgery, and finally the relentless pain leads them to suicide, perhaps because their mind is clouded from Vicodin. I knew a perfectly normal forty-something woman whose mom died and she fell to pieces in her grief and died of alcohol related causes after losing her job because she was no longer able to come to work or function if she did. I knew a wonderful, happy gregarious man who would hear stories of sadness from the people around him and these problems would then become his problems. He could not set ego boundaries. He carried this weight on his shoulders as he gradually withdrew into himself. I read of a young psychologist from Texas who burned out a year or two after graduating from graduate school and opening her own counseling practice because of hearing how her clients would treat their family members with unspeakable cruelty. To all of this, we could add the horror of war and how PTSD has changed our sons and daughters, husbands and wifes, mothers and fathers. Add racism, violent crime and injustice in our country and it goes on and on. Very few people likely choose to get lost, it just happens. In some cases, lost people ambush and pull others off the way.
Roads are like rivers. A river begins as a small stream, gradually getting bigger and bigger as it progresses mightily and majestically to it’s mouth. The same can be true with roads. I’ve see a foot path in the middle of the wilderness become an ungraded, muddy dirt road, which became a gravel road, which then led to a single lane asphalt road, which eventually became an interstate highway.
Fortunately, there are signs and lights as Curious Matter mentions if we look for them. God does not necessarily hit us over the head to get our attention. He doesn’t often appear at the foot of our bed like the Ghost of Christmas Past did to Ebenezer Scrooge. The Bible explains how to seek for help. It tells us what to look for and what to listen for. We can’t save ourselves. Martin Luther would we can’t even know how desparate and desolent we are unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.
The prophet Isaiah (55:6) tells us to “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” He is referring to Israel, but the context is not of primary importance as it can easily apply to us as well. He uses the Hebrew word for “seek” (דִּרְשׁ֥וּ.) The Pulpit Commentary says “Israel must ‘seek the Lord’ without delay, or the opportunity will be past; God will have withdrawn Himself from them.” There is an urgency here, but also an important caveat; it is never too late to ask your Heavenly Father for forgiveness and salvation. Then, too, it’s folly to put off your search for God because your heart may become hardened or you may perish unexpectedly in your sleep, from an accident, a anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting (whatever) and not have that last minute opportunity. Again, in II Corinthians 6:2 God says: “I tell you, now (νῦν) is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. The word “now” refers to this present moment (even as you read these words.) If you’ve read this far in this post, the Holy Spirit may be urging you to call out to God.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says:
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
We see in this verse that it must not be a half-hearted effort. Some of the best prayers may be in the form of wails or cries in the night.
I’ve written elsewhere on this blog with some examples about how God may speak directly to you as He did with young Samuel. Or, He may speak to you through a relative, a friend or a complete stranger. But be sure of the source of the information. A famous figure currently in the news went to a psychic for hidden information. Don’t repeat that mistake. Some wind up in false religion. You won’t find the truth there.
What next?
I encourage you to ask Jesus into your heart so He can lead you on to the road of life . . . the road home. I’ll be glad to correspond with you if you need assistance or have questions. Simply leave a comment on this post.
