When Days are Dark — Morning Devotions

Subscribe to the ‘Morning Devotions’ Podcast

Transcript

It’s often said, I fear going through dark times in my life. You might have said that yourself. Life is a journey filled with highs and lows, and at times we find ourselves navigating through the periods of darkness, the tough times, unhappiness and hardship. Many times they are connected to relationships, finances, family, health, or career.

There is no fairness in life. Bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people. That is the reality.

Often in life we don’t get what we deserve. Your heart may break at times. There are days of depression and even despair, to say nothing of conflict with others through misunderstanding. I was quite interested to read about Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who is still celebrated around the world for her amazing work with the poor and dying of India. She was a nun in a religious order, totally given to the work of God, she was and still is a real hero, widely loved and respected.

In some of her personal writings in 1979, discovered after her death, a letter was found written to her friend Father Michael Van Der Peet. He was her friend and spiritual mentor. Here’s what she wrote in a letter to him:

For me, the silence and the emptiness is so great. I look and do not see. I listen and do not hear.

The dark night of the soul

She was talking about her experience with God. She admitted to battling long periods of darkness like the Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, who in the 16th century coined the term the dark night of the soul, and this was used to describe a period which has affected many outstanding Christians, and Mother Teresa could not sense God’s presence or love in spite of the impressive work that she did for Him. I believe that people going through hard times desperately want to hear that God is with them.

That he has a purpose for their struggle, and the struggles will not go on forever. Often it takes time to fully understand and to start to see how God will turn it all around for goodness and purpose. Because that dark season has so deeply affected us. But through Christ we have the assurance and hope that only He can give.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

Knowing that he will indeed use our dark days for ultimate blessing in this life, we may not see it yet, but we can trust that he will strengthen our faith and build greatness within us when the strong winds blow. In fact, the Bible tells us to expect this.

Ecclesiastes 11:8 says people should enjoy every day of their lives, no matter how long they live, but they should remember there will be many dark days. We may not always be aware of it, but God has a plan for each of us. The plan is to enter into a relationship with Him in this life and spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

And that plan will sometimes involve going through dark times.

We are called by God. He loves us unconditionally, and He wants us to love Him in return. For that to happen, however, we must see that some things are difficult to accept. King David makes a terrific description in his prayer recorded in Psalm 139.

Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. If for various reasons we lose sight of God, it does not mean that the light is gone. In those moments, God is faithful to keep His promise to be with us when we walk through the valley of deep darkness, whether we perceive Him or not. God is not merely with us, but God fully knows us.

He is acquainted with all our ways, even our thoughts, for there is no such thing as darkness to God. When pilots of small planes fly through the dense, dark clouds, they lose all points of normal visual perception. Those things can’t be trusted. They might feel they’re flying horizontal and straight, when actually they’re spiralling towards the ground.

For the pilot, survival depends on total trust on the navigational instruments. They must fly by these instruments. The same principle applies to our Christian life.

Living through turbulent times means that we trust God, even if we don’t feel Him nearby, and the Bible calls it walking by faith, not by sight.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, we do acknowledge the dark days. They will come probably sooner than later, and I ask, Lord, for your courage and strength to understand that even if I don’t fully comprehend what’s going on, you know the end result and that you will bring me through every storm, and I’m grateful for that assurance. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Feature image: CanvaPro