02/05/2026 -
Do you find yourself longing for God? Are you at a place in your life where you feel separated from him and sitting 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 find yourself waiting for God remember that He is already with you and that it is only your own realization of His presence that you are actually longing for. Remember also that you are never 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 member of the Boy Scouts, 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, and during the evening after the sun set we would cook and huddle around a fire for warmth, but as the fire burned down to ashes, we would go to our tents and slip into our sleeping bags… it was then that the cold of night would set in. 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. If you are a camper then you know this feeling.
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 and that He was not going to answer my prayer, but I prayed on in spite of my doubt... I prayed through my doubt into faith and light once more. You see, God always came because He had never left me... He is forever 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 your night of tribulation 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, true, and with you always.
“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 cannot 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 you, 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 my perceived dark hours when I wait upon you. Strengthen my faith Lord and never let me lose hope that morning will return to save me from the dark, the cold, and the tremors of my night terrors. 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 the shining light of Jesus. 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 always 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 my darkest nights, and know that in good time your light will shine upon me... you are Great... you deliver me… and in my most troubling of times I will give my fears and terror 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
“Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.”
Psalm 5:3 NLT
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes