Spirituality

Walking in the Dark

What happens when the lights go out?

When it is so dark you cannot even see a pinprick of light. You cannot see where you are going. The path ahead looms steep and rocky, a gruelling uphill climb all the way. What happened to smooth and untroubled?
Fear, worry and grief choking life. 

The only certainties are questions; and they loom large and pressing.
We cry out: “Where are you, Lord?” Pound on heavens portals, “Why?” After all of this, “Why?” The answers don’t seem to come. We hear the reverberation of silence, loud and clear.

In the darkness, we think we are alone, desperate. We thrash about. We look for the door, searching for light, any light at all.
How do I get through. How do I walk in the dark?

1) Take the next step. Often we get stuck. We will not find the door if we don’t move forward. So, do the next thing. Gently. Get up, have a shower, carry on. Breathe through this moment. Then the next, and the one after that.

2) Give yourself permission to identify your feelings. How you feel and what you think is significant, and it counts. What you do with your feelings, matters too. So, take time to sort them; they give valuable information. Work through the anxiety and fear. Show yourself the same tenderness you would show to a dear friend.
3) Call a friend, reach out to someone. Please do not isolate yourself. We need each other. We are told to bear one another’s burdens. Find a good therapist or support group. Join a faith community.  Don’t suffer alone.
4) Play music. Music may soothe, comfort and inspire. Have a cup of tea, snuggle up in a blanket. Rest when you need to.

5) Read the Psalms. There is lamentation and sorrow there. They are expressions of profound emotion. In them you will find words when it seems like there are none left. Weep, wail, and rage, it’s all there.
6) Hold on to hope. You will get through this. You are not alone. Never alone. The promise is sure: He said: “I will never leave or forsake you.”

Let your anthem be Psalms 139: 7 – 12: There is NO DARKNESS that will hide you from His presence. Sing it over and over.Psalm 139:7-12  (NIV)  Where can I go from your Spirit?     Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there;     if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn,     if I settle on the far side of the sea,  even there your hand will guide me,     your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me     and the light become night around me,”  even the darkness will not be dark to you;     the night will shine like the day,     for darkness is as light to you.

Even when we think we are most desperately alone, and we cannot see the light in the darkness; we know the One who separated the light from the darkness.

He, the Creator, Triune God, He hovers over the waters of chaos in our lives. He cups our face in His hands tenderly, and with the utmost love, He says; “I am with you, I will strengthen you, uphold you, and surround you. I will carry you.”
Amid the unanswerable, in the deep darkness, we can fall back on His promise to guide us; with light. 

Psalm 119:105 tell us – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” It’s like we are driving in the mist and thick fog. Our headlights shine through the gloom so we inch forward a bit at a time. And as the way clears, more after that.

He with us, leading us forward. We, clinging to this: however dark it gets, “Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.”

{He came} to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:79

For it is You who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.  Psalm 18:28

Light of the world, sweet Jesus, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy,
Christ, have mercy;

Have mercy on us. 

Shine; shine on all of us.
Shine. 
For this we pray, this we plead.Amen.

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: