October 21, 2004

Who among you fears the Lord?

Who obeys the voice of His Servant?

Who walks in darkness

And has no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord

And rely upon his God.

                             --Isaiah 50:10

Have you ever been afraid at night? Have you ever felt lost, lonely, or confused in the dark? Maybe you have lain awake in bed at night during a bad storm, wishing the lightning and thunder would stop and the morning would hurry up and come.

When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark. Even Davy Crockett and Howdy Doody, my childhood heroes from the fifties, could not help me when things went bump in the night. I had a Howdy Doody doll I would hug at night, and a Davy Crockett coonskin cap, gun, and the whole outfit, but I was still afraid of the dark.

Most of us simply don’t enjoy darkness all that much. In the dark, there are all kinds of noises. We exaggerate things all out of proportion. So often at nighttime we relive the frustrations, problems, and cares that cause us to struggle emotionally and spiritually.

Maybe you have recently experienced a “dark night of the soul.” You may even be in a dark time in your life right now, wondering what happened and trying to find your way back to the light. If any of these emotions or experiences are familiar to you, I have two important things to share with you.

First, you are perfectly normal. Everyone one of us has had occasion to fear the dark. God’s people are not exempt from the dark times. If you have ever been fearful or frustrated or lonely or lost in the dark, welcome to the family.

Secondly, if you are a child of God, you need to know that He will meet you in your night place. In fact, there is a unique Scripture that tells us there are times when the God who dwells in glorious light can be found in the darkness: “Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). And Solomon said, “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud” (2 Chronicles 6:1).

God often leads us into the darkness—not to frighten or abandon us, but so that we might see the glory and the power of His presence in a way we could never see it in the light. The fact is that God’s love often shines more brightly and more beautifully in the dark than at any other time in our lives.

WHEN STUMBLING THROUGH THE DARKNESS, DRAW

CLOSE TO GOD—HE WORKS THE DAY AND NIGHT SHIFTS.

Taken from Lessons from the Heart

Copyright 2001 by Jack Graham