Suddenly

Pastor and author Dutch Sheets made this point in one of his books. He notes that in Genesis, "God begins each day of creation with darkness. The process of God always involves night.... Spiritual birthing begins at night." He goes on to say that we need to expect God to bring light out of the darkness, even if they may be the darkest places we have ever known.

There's a beautiful example of this in the 12th chapter of Acts, verse 7. Peter had been arrested and thrown into prison. A clear fact about the prison cells of the ancient world is that they were devoid of light. Peter was not only in darkness, but securely chained between two armed guards. The only thing darker than his cell was the appearance of his circumstances. Yet verse 7 tells us that, "Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell." Another Bible translation puts it, " Suddenly the cell suddenly flamed with light." What I see here is that there is no degree of darkness that can block one of God's beautiful "Suddenly's." 

Going back to the creation account in Genesis, it says, "And there was darkness, and there was light." Our lives will have times of darkness. Sometimes deep darkness. We have to hold fast to the One who tells us, promises us, that He is Light. If we trust, if we expect, we will behold Him to bring the light, His Light, into the midst of whatever "cell" the darkness has tried to hide us. Expectation is the key. We must expect Him to come, in His way and time, and bathe our situations with His Light. A Light that will pierce and banish even the thickest and deepest darkness. He will do it suddenly. We need to believe, you need to believe, that He has a suddenly for us, for you.

Have you come to your own "dark cell," what is your expectation? Can you believe He is at work through the process, "birthing" something beautiful in and through you there? In the darkness of his cave, Elijah met God, and found new hope in place of his despair. From the darkness of the hole his brothers had thrown him into, and through the slavery and prison cell he unjustly found himself in, emerged Joseph. Joseph, used of God not only to preserve his own people, but Egypt's as well. There is no cave, no cell, no place where, if we will see through the dark with eyes of faith, become inflamed with His Light. 

In his cell, Peter could not move. He was powerless to affect anything. His God was not. His Light, as Keith Green wrote in one of his most beautiful songs, "broke through." Scripture calls Him, "the God who breaks through." He will do so suddenly, and all that accompanies the darkness, fear, anxiety, discouragement, despair, will suddenly be put to flight. What remains is Jesus, the Lord of Light. The Light that pierces all darkness.

Blessings,

Pastor O