When Dark Night Comes In Broad Daylight

ABANDONED by God. At least it feels that way. You know those times when your soul feels all upended over the floor and there is nothing there to help. No voice of God to reassure, to redirect, to reconfirm your call. It is a lonely place where you just want to shrivel and die. The only stipulation: do it quickly and quietly.

When dark night comes in broad daylight we want to hit the ejector button.

We simply seek a place of solace — a sanctuary — where the safety of our spiritual protection is fully enabled; where nobody can get in and mess with our numbed sense for existing without bother. If we must exist — and at times like this, there is no point — we want at least the peace of not being bothered by anyone or anything. We want somewhere to curl up in a ball.

(Sorry if this is depressing for you; it’s helping me right now.)

The dark night always seems to come without warning; unannounced in the midst of an otherwise happy day. Suddenly the clouds drift over the very area we occupy. The rest is history. For a time we are caught in a vacuum; hardly able to utter a word; no sense even to move. Paralysed spiritually.

There is a downside to being committed to honesty. When we have nothing to show for our faith, then we are forlorn. When we have nothing to show for God’s work in our lives — because of this dark night amid the day — we are no witness of God. When we are committed to living a life of truth, faking it won’t work. Faking it is no longer part of our arsenal. Denial of how we really feel is no longer an option.

And yet, God must be satisfied to use us in polar weakness!

When there is no purpose there is no hope. When there is no vision the people flounder (Proverbs 29:18). So, somehow, when we are faced with a dark night situation in broad daylight, it could be linked with a forlorn sense of existence, i.e. without purpose.

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When a vacuum sucks purpose dry from within the core of life we enter into a dark night, even in broad daylight. Nothing can talk us around. Only God by his Holy Spirit — divine strength for a perplexing weakness. We must pray. We must seek a way through, but it will be by rest and recreation, not by pushing our way through.

When dark night comes in broad daylight we pray that light to expel the darkness.

No purpose, no vision, no hope >>> go to God >>> know purpose, know vision, know hope.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.