Trusting God in the “Darkness” (Part 3)

We all go through “Dark Times” where it feels like God is nowhere to be found and we often feel isolated from people in our souls even if we are in a crowd of people. Those times can be scary because we don’t know what the outcome will be and we often can become overwhelmed with the prospect of the “What If’s” that fuel our worries. If you haven’t read the first two articles in this series please do so before reading this one as they are all linked with each other.

I started out this series with the dynamic story of Lazarus dying and the two sisters, Mary and Martha, having to grapple with the lost of their brother and the confusion of why Jesus didn’t save their brother from death. We may never have experienced such a dramatic loss of a loved one but life has a way of bringing other terrible moments into our lives that seem to swallow us up in pain and confusion. A good friend of mine, who got saved around the same time as me and of whom I did ministry with for a time, was brutally killed by a person they were trying to show the love of God to. This friend was serving at a soup kitchen in a major city and one of the frequent persons coming for meals was an ex golden gloves boxer who had a bad temper. He found out where she was living and went to her house and beat her to death. The Holy Spirit had giving me a word of knowledge about her being in grave danger so I drove through six states to warn her. I knew nothing about this boxer but I knew her life was in grave danger. It was only days after leaving and warning her that she was murdered.  It would have been easy to blame God for the loss my of friend yet my soul knew God had tried to intervene by giving me the warning.

Here is a major truth in learning how to walk in the darkness and still trust the goodness of God. Don’t forget the times God moved in your life while you walked in the light.

John the Baptist is a good example of one of someone who had a major encounter with God while he walked in the light and, later on in his ministry, he had to walk in the darkness.

John 1:29-34                                                                                                                                                                              

The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.“I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John testified that the Lord spoke to him about the coming messiah and showed him how he could rightly identify him for himself and the people he ministered to. Sure enough, Jesus shows up and John would have missed who he was if it were not for the word the Lord gave him. Now look at John’s experience while he is in prison for speaking the truth about Herod the king. He is about to lose his head and pay the ultimate price for his love for God.

Luke 7:18-23

The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’” At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.                                                                    [22] And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. [23] “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

When we find ourselves walking in darkness we need to remember what God has done in our lives in the past. We should write down these events to encourage our souls when fear and doubt are trying to make us captive. The promises of God and the miracles God has done in our lives and the lives of those around us will fuel our trust and refute the lies of Satan when he comes to whisper deceit and blame God for our troubles. Remember how Satan deceived Eve in the garden? He lied about the character of God and the trustworthiness of God. Had Eve stopped to remember the past and how God had blessed Adam and herself she would have never believed the lies and turned against God.

Moses spoke the words of the Lord to the children of Israel to prepare them for the difficult times ahead. He told them to remember their past slavery so they would not forget how the Lord delivered them and thus stay true to the Lord even when walking in darkness. Moses gave them two keys to walking successfully in darkness. First was to “Remember” and second was to be careful to “Observe“.

Deuteronomy 16:12                                                                                                                                                      

“You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

How easy it is for all of us to crumble under the pressure of being in the darkness. Fear, doubt, anxiety and confusion can tear our faith apart unless we apply these simple yet profound truths. Remember the scripture the apostle Peter wrote the early believers when speaking about the stupidity of allowing pride to captivate our hearts.

1 Peter 5:8-9                                                                                                                                                                         

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 

Questions:

1) Have you written down the various times God moved in your life? Your future may depend on it.

2) Have you been captivated by fear when walking in the darkness? Confess to yourself and others how God has moved in your past and you will be surprised how confident you will feel in the midst of your battle.

May the Holy Spirit remind us what Jesus said in the past to encourage our walk today.

Pastor Dale