Trusting God in the DarkSample

Seeing God in the Deep Shadows

There are moments in life when the lights go out, not just physically, but emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Sometimes it feels like everything familiar disappears, and you’re left sitting in a darkness you never asked for.

This is what happened to me when I went completely blind at the age of 38. I was training pastors in Central America when blood vessels burst behind my eyes, which eventually led to complete blindness. You can imagine the questions it left me with. How would this affect my wife and four young children? How could I continue to pastor a growing church when I could not even see a Bible? Yet the greatest question it left me with is a question so many are asking themselves. Is God good even when life isn’t?

Scripture promises this: God does some of His best work in the dark. Micah wrote, “When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8).He doesn’t say if I sit in darkness. He says when. Darkness is a part of the human experience, but so is God’s faithful presence. Your darkness may not be physical, as mine is, but be assured, we all go through dark seasons.

You may feel the weight of disappointment, uncertainty, loss, or fear, but darkness does not mean God is absent. Similar to how the stars shine in the night, our darkness becomes the backdrop that makes His light shine brighter.

God does not rush you through the darkness. He sits with you in it, He guides you through it, and He transforms you because of it. When you invite Him into your dark places, you start to see what you couldn’t see before, His nearness, His mercy, and His steady hand.

Darkness is not your end. It’s the place where His light begins.

Reflection Questions:

• Where do you feel “in the dark” right now?

• How might God be revealing Himself in ways you haven’t noticed yet?

• What would it look like to let His light into your situation?

Prayer:

Lord, You see the places where I feel overwhelmed by the dark. Be my light today. Help me notice Your presence even when I cannot feel it. Shine into the corners of my life and guide me forward. Amen.