A Dark Night Gives Way To A Brighter Day

by Curt Wildy

There are many trying times in a Christian’s life, times when God shows us our utter inability to do anything spiritual without Him. During these periods we may, in varying measure, have a felt sense of:

• Bewilderment: not knowing why certain things have arisen in our lives; not knowing how to proceed; not knowing where to even begin to try to put things in order; we are left to just accept the situation as it is and to wait upon God to make His purposes known — if and as He sees fit.

• Helplessness: sometimes even to the point of just sitting still without a word to say; our thoughts racing (at one extreme) or else numbed to the point of pathetic inactivity (on the other); we try to grasp hold of the biblical promises (be anxious for nothing; lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world; …we are more than conquerors…), but the words in the head, or even on the lips, do not manifest themselves as comfort in the heart.

• Vileness: as pride rises in our minds over the crumbs of insight the Lord has given or over the greater restraint from manifest sin that He has ordained for us (in comparison to others); this pride leads us to believe, or act like we believe, that we have attained to these things ourselves, coming to them in our own strength. What a great dishonour this is to Christ; it is the covering of His light as we seek to shine in our non-existent own.

• Hypocrisy: in that knowing what we are by nature, we focus nonetheless on the weaknesses and quirks of others; our minds being encompassed with all manner of unloving and unkind thoughts; and though we try at times to fight against them, becoming all the more disgusted with ourselves over them, we cannot help but admit that they are nonetheless our own, coming from the great darkness and deadness of our natural hearts;

• Exhaustion: finding that we lack natural strength to resist what we are by nature, we sometimes find ourselves overcome with sorrow and grief over the things we have said and done; over the things we should be doing; and over such a great showing of ingratitude towards the Lord, as we walk in ways that cast dark shadows over our profession (shadows of wrath, envy, lust, ingratitude, apathy, and selfishness). We stand on sinking sand as great waves roll in and we find it a wonder that we aren’t carried away forever by them; yet in the midst of this great overflowing, Hope (no matter how small and dim) remains.

• Abandonment: having lost the joy of our salvation, we find our prayers to be ceiling-high at best; our reading to be dull and forced (if we read at all); our meditation to be filled with the holes bored by a thousand distractions; and our worship to be anything but that which is worthy of being called worship; we have departed from our first love, and our first love has departed from us for a season; those oft-talked about dark clouds experimentally obscure the Light of our Sun and we are left to wait on Him to usher in clearer skies and brighter days. 

• Sinful anger: as we blame others, blame ourselves, and dare we say even blame God when we ought to be resting in His divine providence and mercy, trusting in the fact that He works all things for our eternal good and for His eternal glory, and thanking Him for all that He brings us, and accompanies us, through.

Much more could be added to this list; the Christian is far from being a perfect being and there is no shortness of negativity that clouds our walk. Although we are indeed perfect after the inner man, and altogether perfect in Christ, we are by no means perfect in our outward experience. Though we desire to walk in a way that honours God, we must acknowledge that we fall far too short in such an endeavor to ever glory in anything that we say or do.  All, truly all, glory must go to Him. We must come to a place in our lives wherein we realize that all good works, all honourable deeds, all that can be called righteous and upright is truly the revelation of Christ in us — it is the Lord making Himself manifest in us with power. When the Light of God in us ebbs, so does our faith, love, and steadfastness. Yet when Christ shines, i.e. makes Himself gloriously known to us by the eyes of faith; we then see love, faith, and fervency flowing forth in abundance.

Concerning the darker times, however, are these waning periods in our lives any excuse for complacency and other sin? No; but it is a truth that we have no more ability to make Christ shine forth in us as we do to make the physical sun shine forth in our midnight sky. We have no more might to bring about the peace and tranquility that comes from a felt sense of communion with the Lord than we have to successfully “rebuke the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.” These truths should move us all the more to seek the Lord, cry out to Him, and earnestly look unto Him to reveal Himself to us with power (not in so-called signs and wonders and emotionalism as we see with the charismatics, but with much faith, and boldness, and contentment — again, with, and unto, greater love). We do the best that we can during the dark times (whatever that really means) as we wait on Him. However, just as one earnestly looks for the rising sun after a harrowing, stormy, night; or for a loved one who is much delayed in their return; let us look with great eagerness for the rising of our Day star in our hearts and for the return of the One who is our all in all — for He is our great Provider, Protector, Leader, GOD, and Friend…

To Christ be the glory, forever and ever.