Are You Walking in Darkness

In this day’s writing, Michael brings up one of the most interesting aspects of every Christian’s walk with the Lord: the times when He doesn't seem to be anywhere found…silence…as Isaiah says, walking “in darkness and has no light.”  These are days when the sincerity of our trust in God is tested. 

Are You Walking In Darkness?

Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand; and you will lie down in torment. --Isaiah 50:10, 11

Often I have described faith as a room we must all enter one day. Upon entering, God turns off the lights, removes the emotions of His presence, allows thoughts to run wild, and permits the enemy to whisper, “If . . . if only you had not sinned, if only you had married someone else, if you had just made better decisions, God would be with you, you would not be in this darkness, and you would have wonderful feelings.” In this room believers struggle to understand what is happening; confusion is magnified if faith has never been rightly explained, for it is in just such a place that faith is developed as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen in our lives. In that darkroom we believers cannot see the Lord, yet we can do something that no angel in heaven that sees Him and believes can do. When we cannot see Him in this room and yet believe, we become very pleasing,for it is said that without faith we cannot please God. It is counterproductive to try to make our own light or attempt to stir up feelings, create an experience, or give in to depression, which is nothing more than anger without the excitement. Like the woman in labor who must not fight against pangs but let the baby come, we need not fight the darkroom but rest there and wait. He is coming! The greatness of faith is proven by how long we can wait.“BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.” --Revelation 1:7

Michael draws our attention to four things that make this endeavor a “turning-point” challenge:

1. “confusion is magnified if faith has never been rightly explained” – incredibly as important as biblical faith is, it is unbelievable that the vast majority of Christians cannot agree as to what “faith” really is.  Real biblical faith is a belief that what God has said in His Word is truth…a belief that has turned into a trust in God that no one or no circumstance can steal away.  Real biblical faith can never be detoured into confusion.  But, Michael gives everyone an absolute: a faulty or deficient definition will ultimately lead to confusion.  As Michael loved to say, “We rise and fall based on our definitions.”

2. “when we cannot see Him in this room and yet believe, we become very pleasing” – this is the essence of what real faith and trust is: believing and trusting without seeing.  Life is full of instances where this kind of faith and trust is challenged.  We pass these tests of our faith when our definition is solid and biblical, and we stand firm trusting God.

3. “it is counterproductive to try and make up our own light…” – taking matters into our own hands when it seems God is nowhere to be found or to be depended upon spells disaster from the start. 

4. “we need not fight the darkroom but rest there and wait…the greatness of faith is proven by how long we can wait” -  rest, wait, trust God to show up…the most difficult challenge for anyone going through a real test.  But what is real biblical faith and trust in God without some “wait”?

All of these point to one thing: we need to ask ourselves just how “great” is our faith, knowing the answer gives us direction as to our trust in God.