Dark Caves

 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I Kings 19:9...."He's either in control or we're all doomed." Joel Malm

I'd never heard of Joel Malm until seeing him recently on James Robison's "Life Today" program. He was sharing about a book he'd recently written, focusing on times of great difficulty, distress, and darkness in his life. Times when he couldn't understand any of what was happening to him, and hearing nothing from the Lord in the interim. It was then he asked this question, the question that had prompted the writing of his book; "What if God's silence is not a sign of his disapproval but a sign of His confidence that we can pass this test?" 

We don't like to think that God actually leads us into difficult testing places, even though the Bible is replete with examples that He does. We don't like the process and seek to escape it as soon as possible. We especially don't like that in the process, as Malm points out, we will come, like Elijah, to our own "dark cave." We may be led there by the Lord Himself, or we may be there because we are seeking to hide from life and its difficulties. However the path, God, who is in control, will be present there, and if we're listening and believing, we'll see and hear Him there. "If" is the key word.

In my Bible College days, I remember there was a course titled "The School Of The Prophets." I never gave a lot of thought to it at the time, but when I examine the lives of His prophets, the common thread is that in one way or another, the Father took each of them to His "school" He wanted to use it to test them, stretch them, grow them, and make them effective for Him. This has always been His way, and it remains His way to this day. He is in control, and we will be tested in our belief of that in countless ways. Whether we come to be of great use and value to Him in the Kingdom will depend on whether we hold fast to Him in the testing, and demonstrate to Him that we can be trusted. Trusted to live for Him, speak for Him, and shine for Him, no matter how dark or hopeless our immediate circumstances may be.

For those whose hearts are fully His, dark caves will be a part of the journey. No matter how we get there, we need not fear them, and we can trust Him to bring us out of everyone. The cave is only dark to us. He sees everything clearly and no darkness can block His vision and sight. 

Malm said that He's either in control or we're doomed. Which best describes our present state? Do we live in the full confidence that He reigns in and over all things? Or, do we live in the hopeless despair that expects the oncoming doom to swallow us up. God will test us in this. Will we pass.....or fail?

Blessings,
Pastor O