I can personally attest that it was in the darkest times for me, that I formed a deep relationship with God. Really, saw the need to stay close to the God, who created the universe. I began my relationship with Him at eighteen, but I did not really see Him, until He came walking with me through some very difficult days. I am not saying I actually “saw” God. I felt His presence. A peace midst the storm. A power taking hold of both me and my situation. Help.
When everything in our life is going per our plans, sadly, we put God just off to the side. Out of the picture. Our focus is on what we can do and not reliance on our holy God. It is easy to do the minimum when it comes to church, Bible study and prayer. Just get by. No need for all this God involvement here, now. We are busy! We are happy, content and quite independent.
Then suddenly and quite unexpected, darkness falls. We all have different experiences with darkness. Financial, broken relationships and illness come to mind. Mine was the death of my entire birth family in the span of eleven years. It was a journey in and out of darkness. Grief would ease and then it was time to start it all again.
When we find ourselves in the dark days of turmoil, the process sheds remarkable light on who and what is important. We feel alone and cannot see Him in our circumstance but He sees us as though a spotlight were on us. We may learn to be successful, happy and content in the good times, but we learn to be God-chasing survivors when the night falls on us and does not seem to let up. We go looking for the One we ignored for so long.
God is there when things are good. He watches, waiting for us to acknowledge the source of our success. Then the sun goes down and it seems it will never rise over us, ever…Again.
Though we cannot see God, He has never taken His eyes off of us. Nothing can hide us from Him. We may think we are hiding, but we are totally exposed. He is an expert in night vision. He sees and knows everything about us and yet He still desires that we come to Him through His Son, Jesus. He wants to be the first in our life on the good days when the sun shines, and the One we call when trouble comes and the darkness falls. Simply put, He is a jealous God. He desires all our attention, all the time.
~Scripture For Today~
Psalms 139:12
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. (NASB)
~Prayer For Today~
Hello Father! Thank You that You are longsuffering with our neglect of You. That You see us in our victories and You stay with us in our darkest hours. You are there waiting for us to let go of our independence and turn to You each day. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
©2015 Kathy Ledbetter. All Rights Reserved.