RIDICULOUS it seems, but so powerfully
true this is: God lurks not in the light, for he is light. God lurks
secretly in the dark place where he’s likeliest found. Darkness is a definite
sign that God be there with you — even as you appear alone and afraid in that
darkness. The very fact that you can bear what is untenable to your soul is
testament to God’s secret, silent, sanctifying Presence, there, right there.
Faith is its own reality in the
darkness. Without light we have no way of knowing. Only when the light fails do
we know we’re definitely pleasing God.
God will never show himself to us unless
we first show ourselves to him.
Faith is the test of the spirit in
us; will we move forward into the dark, by the undertone of courage, even as if
God were there? If we will we’ll know God’s interminable Presence. If we can’t,
faith is dead and we’re ruined.
Let these stanzas following attest
to what these truths of God being in the darkness — of God being in the
darkness to light our way out — bring manifestation of truth’s blessing
homeward.
Alone in
this darkest of place,
God, may I
feel you trace,
My longing
for the light of life,
May you who’s in me be rife!
In darkness we need the abundance
of God’s light, in order to illuminate the dormant hope in our hearts that
presents as fear when we feel alone.
No hurry
today, please soul, no hurry,
No matter
the size of the hill,
The world
may be all a flurry,
God, make me silent and still.
What a halcyon initiative: to grow
patience and fortitude in a person who uncomfortably bears; who bears beyond
their own foreknowledge.
Darkest of
places, dark beyond reason,
Darkest
time, darkest season,
Help me
hope in God above,
In him who’s there by the light of
his love.
God is there not simply in light,
but in the light of his love. Darkness confuses us, but it also breaks us down
into the real components of ourselves.
Help me to
see him,
Give me
power to believe,
Especially
in the dim,
Give me love as I grieve.
The juxtaposition of light and dark
are two vestibules that coalesce together. Light would be useless without the
context of dark.
Darkest
times are when we need the Lord,
Light’s relevance
in the dark cannot be ignored,
So know how
much now we need darkest night,
Without soul’s fear we learn
nothing from light.
Only when we’re pushed does our
relationship with God push into the stratosphere of growth. If there were no darkness
there would be no light.
© 2015 Steve Wickham.
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