God Lurks Secretly In the Dark Place

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.