God never promised us that life would be easy, but he did promise us that we will never be alone. My hope is that through the darkness, you will begin to see why God’s promise of security is so crucial to finding contentment.
I’m going to start off by using myself as an example of what my expectations were when I first started following Jesus. I thought that all my anxiety, anger, greed, lust, pride, and darkness would just suddenly disappear. I thought that Jesus would magically make every bad thing disappear from my life. “I’m doing all that you’re asking Jesus, why would anything bad ever happen to me?” Turns out that I had FALSE EXPECTATIONS.
If you are unfamiliar with the book of Psalms in the Bible, it is a collection of 150 ancient Hebrew poems, songs, and prayers that come from all different periods in Israel’s history.
The Psalms are great to meditate over and pray through. They are easily relatable and majority of the time they have hopeful endings. Except when you look at Psalm 39 and 88, which are prayers. These are the only two Psalms filled with darkness.
WHY WOULD GOD INCLUDE THEM? DID HE MEAN FOR THEM TO BE IN THE BIBLE?
God did mean to include these Psalms in the Bible. He wanted to remind us that there are going to be dark times, yet he wanted to show us that sometimes it’s better to pray angry prayers to God rather than turn away from him.
Reminders:
1) Dark times are the best places to become a person of GREATNESS!
2) The devil is present in dark times and is asking God if you truly do love him for his character.
Is the devil right? Are you using God? Do you only enjoy his character when you get something from him? Do you only pray when you want something?
Darkness is a time to reflect on your Faith and ask yourself if you love God or you love what God brings into your life. It is true that we all start to come to God because we want or need something, but there has to be a transitional point where you start to love God beyond always needing something from him.
Listen up, DARKNESS is RELATIVE! Darkness will never last, therefore take this expectation of darkness into consideration. Know that whatever you may be going through can and will grow you. God has a plan for this season, so don’t be quick to blame him or anyone else for it. Ask God to change your heart and see the darkness as a means to grow you as his child.
The hope we have in the darkness is this, that Jesus Christ experienced darkness ALONE at the cross, so that in our darkness we can have him as a friend that will NEVER abandon us.
With God we are always RISING up. Even when we don’t see, feel, or know it God is always working for the goodness of his kingdom.
Talk to God in your darkness because it is always better than leaving him behind. Allow him to make you strong where you are weak. Rely on his strength, but do not be passive. Know your responsibilities as a follower of Jesus Christ and respond to them. Love God beyond the good moments and remember that he loved you even when you didn’t love yourself. He loved you even when you didn’t know it. He’s been rooting for you before you were in your mothers womb. He is with you always, telling you to NEVER give up.
CHALLENGE: Write down 5 aspects of God’s character on a piece of paper and say them back to yourself when you wake up and go to bed. Ask God to reveal more of his character to you and remember the depth of what his love means for everyone.
Taking up this lens of life will lead you into becoming a person who is filled with GREATNESS of God.
