As a young man milking cows, I regularly heard Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story on the barn radio. "The Rest of the Story consisted of stories presented as little-known or forgotten facts on a variety of subjects with some key element of the story... held back until the end."

Today's lessons remind me of The Rest of the Story that is pictured in the Pietà, the statue pictured above in the Church of Trinità dei Monti (Trinity of the Mountains), the church at top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. 

Joseph of Arimathea knew the rest of the story. He knew Jesus' story wasn't over on Good Friday. That gave him courage to ask for Jesus' body. Read the rest of the story here: Luke 23:50-24:12.

Because you and I know the rest of the story, we can make the prayers of Psalm 84-88 our own.

• Psalm 84 - We pass through our Valley of Baka (Baka means "tears"), but we know the rest of the story! The LORD hears our prayers. As we pass through our Valley of Tears, the LORD's love and faithfulness give us strength and allow us to bring comfort to others with the comfort we have received. "They make it a place of springs."
• Psalm 85 - The LORD's love and faithfulness sustain us. Despite what we see right now, "The LORD will indeed give what is good,"
• Psalm 86 - When I am in distress, "teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." 
• Psalm 87 - I am an inhabitant of "Zion," God's Church. "All my fountains are in you." Every blessing flows from my being a part of God's Church, the New Testament Zion.
• Psalm 88 - "Darkness is my closest friend." These last words of the psalm are haunting. Yet, who of us hasn't felt that darkness? When we were in the Church of the Gallicantu (The Rooster Crowing) in Jerusalem, we saw what may have been dungeons in the basement of Caiaphas' palace where prisoners were kept. A laminated book of Psalms was in one of those dungeons, open to Psalm 88. It was perhaps in that very place that Jesus prayed this prayer too. He knew the rest of the story! He knew he would pass through the darkness into the light of Easter morning. Dear friend, if you are going through a place of darkness right now, remember the rest of the story. Jesus has risen. Our God's love and faithfulness are constant. You too shall rise victorious. Take courage for you know the rest of the story!

That truth is illustrated by two pictures from my last trip to Israel. Our son Dave was along. In the first picture, you see him "in the darkness," in one of those dungeons in the high priest's palace. In the second picture, you see him sitting in the doorway of the empty tomb at the Garden Tomb. 

Remember God's love and faithfulness (a repeating thought in these psalms). We shall come through our every darkness into the light of life. Amen.