02/05/2018
Do you find yourself longing for God? Are you at a place in your life where you feel separated from him and sit in darkness waiting on His light to shine on you once again? Maybe you have asked for His Holy Spirit to fill you, and are waiting expectantly for it, or you need an answer to some other prayer that is yet to come. However you wait upon God remember that He is already with you; that your realization of His presence is what you truly await. Remember also that you are not alone, even in this feeling.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”
Psalms 130:5-6 ESV
When I was a boy I was a Boy Scout, and we would go camping several times during the year. My least favorite season was during the late fall or wintertime. During the daylight hours we were busy and moved about enough to keep warm, during the evening after the sun set we would cook and huddle around a fire for warmth, but as the fire burnt down, we would go to our tents and slip into our sleeping bags; it was then that the cold of night would set upon us. I remember waking in the night shivering, and longing for morning. I would pull my sleeping bag over my head, and leave just enough opening to breathe through, but still the cold would not leave me. I would begin to pray for warmth, and more specifically, for the warmth of the morning light.
There have been times of spiritual darkness in my life that have felt just like this. There have been times when I prayed and prayed for God’s provision, or salvation, as I waited shivering for Him. Sometimes I would become convinced that He was not coming, that He was not going to answer my prayer, but I prayed on in spite of my doubt... I prayed through my doubt to faith and light once more. God always came... He is faithful!
Just as the darkness of night gives way each morning to the light of the sun, God’s light most assuredly returns to full brightness in our lives. He shines in the face of Jesus Christ who we hold tight to with great faith.
“For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV
You may not think that the night will ever end. You might not believe the dawn will ever come. You may not understand how God is going to extract you from your dilemma, and return you to the warmth of His light, but be not afraid, and keep your eyes and prayers fixed on Jesus because He is faithful and true.
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:4-5 ESV
In the King James translation we read these same verses in the following words...
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
John 1:4-5 KJV
We may not comprehend. We may not see an end in sight, but there most assuredly is one, and you will see morning dawning in the face of Jesus Christ because darkness can not overcome the light that is in Him!
So do not give into the dark times you face, and hold fast to your faith in God, and Jesus Christ. Walk not as one who is owned by the darkness that surrounds them, but as a child of the light.
“for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”
Ephesians 5:8 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your light that shines upon me, and I thank you even in the dark hours when I wait upon you. Strengthen my faith Lord and never let me lose hope that morning will return to bring me from the dark, the cold, the terror. I know that men say that “the darkest hour is just before the dawn” but I also know that you will bring the light to me, and that I will look upon your vindication. Holy Father, I throw water on the fire of my doubt, and I place my trust in your salvation. Shine your light on me, and lead me from the darkness... you are great and your word is truth. You are the light of my life and I hold firm to your promises to me, to my vindication, redemption, salvation. I will call out to you in prayer during the night, and know that in good time your light will appear before me... you are Great... you deliver me, and in my most fearsome of times I will give my fear over to you...
“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Psalms 34:17-19 ESV
Rich Forbes