The Darkness

 Sometimes it's hard to find God. When we need Him most, He often seems to be absent. When we need to hear His voice, all is silent. We cry out, but there's no answer. Where is He? Doesn't He care? Has He abandoned us? In the midst of it all, everything seems to be getting worse. What's happening? Why is it happening? 

We've likely heard the saying, "God works in mysterious ways." We may have shared with others going through difficult times, but when it's us going through those times, we want answers. Answers that make sense. In His Word He's given us an abundance of promises. I've never found any that say He will make sense to us. He promised to bring us through fire and flood, to protect us in the midst of danger, to enable us to slay giants and cast mountains into the sea. He's promised to make us overcome all the power of hell, but He never promised to make us understand what He's doing in the meantime. He just promised that, if we would trust Him, we would "see His salvation in the land of the living." This is a scary lifestyle, but it's the one that will overcome the world.

David knew something of this. He knew a lot. In 2 Samuel 22:12, he writes, "He shrouded Himself in darkness, veiling His approach with dense rain clouds." Where was God for David? He was in the darkness. He was in the heavy rain. He could not be seen, but He was there. It often seems like this is His favorite place to dwell. His, but not ours. Yet He calls us into it. Do we dare to go? In Exodus 20:21 we read, "As the people stood at a distance, Moses entered into the deep darkness where God was." The people never knew Him as Moses did. They feared the darkness. It didn't make sense to them. They couldn't trust and therefore, they couldn't know. Today, in the midst of circumstances, in our place of darkness with all the approaching rain clouds, who do we more closely resemble? The people, or Moses?

We fear the unknown and nothing is more unknown to us than what we can't see. Yet into that unknown He calls us, promising that if we will obey and trust Him, we will know. Even more, that we will be delivered. David writes in 2 Samuel 22:17, "He reached down from heaven and rescued me, He drew me out of deep waters. He delivered me from my powerful enemies." David, like Moses, entered into the darkness, and in it, like Moses, found light. He found Him. We can too, but we must dare to enter in. If the storms swirl about you today, don't run. As they come upon you, dare to trust and enter in. You'll meet Him there. Your God. Your help. Your deliverance and your answer. He calls to you. Enter in.

Blessings,
Pastor O