Treasures of Darkness…
December 17th, 2007 | Michael Q. Pink
“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the armor of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of bronze, and cut asunder the bars of iron: And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.” (Isa 45:1-3)
To the sons (mature ones) I write. The Lord has great treasures of darkness waiting for you to have eyes that you may see them. What are these treasures buried in the dark places? While it is true that Cyrus found literal treasure hidden in dark places, there surely is a spiritual application. In fact, there are many… The first one that comes to mind is the great treasure that I have gained in my darkest hours. My first born child was born with Down syndrome when I was such a young man. Those first few days were dark for me, but then the light exploded upon the scene and I saw such treasure. I realized that I was more fortunate than my friends. I grew much in wisdom and the ways of God.
Eighteen months later she died, less than a week before Christmas. Darkness came calling again. It envelops you, wants to rob you of any hope for ever seeing the light again. But in that darkness I once again found great treasure — not the tangible kind that decays, but incorruptible treasure that gives life to this day. And those are just the dark places I am willing to write about. There have been others where the darkness is not only void of light, but somehow thick with oppression. But even in that, I learned to see and God brought me out of that place into the glorious light of His dear Son.
Are you in a dark place right now? Ask God to show you the treasure. Ask Him to bring you into the light. Let His word be a candle to your feet and a light to your path. I can say with absolute certainty there is no darkness His light cannot penetrate. There is no heaviness a spirit of praise cannot break. There is no desperation that unbridled worship cannot deliver you from. This is beyond contestation despite the wishes of others who would rather you stay in darkness. I invite you my dear brothers and sisters to the light today. Come.
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December 17th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Once again, thank you for sharing about your daughter and your dark hour. I think all too often we can think our pain is the only pain and fail to realize the scriptures were also written from a point of great stretching. Even though I am no mascchist, I learned my best prayer time came when all I could do is utter….HELP! I call this the “end of myself” time, where my mind and soul are seeking nothing, and I mean NOTHING, other than HIS spirit and HIS guidance. “The LORD HIMSELF goes before me….” but HE sometimes has to bring me to the end of me to remember this! Blessings and peace to you.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Thanks Michael for sharing from your pain for us. I am reminded of a devotional from Os Hillman about the LORD being just on the other side of the darkness. I have walked through great darkness with a divorce after an almost 16 year marriage. It was unhealthy in many ways but in my codependency I could not leave him. He left me just over two years ago and it has been a great time of transition for me. I remember the dark days that followed where I was so depressed that I often layed in the fetal position on the floor and cried. I had one dark night where in hopelessness I sat with ambein in my hand and questioned how many to take. They were flushed the next day after taking 1/2 of one.
Slowly, hope started shining in. It has been a process but I feel out of the pits of dispair and I have learned to smile again. IN many ways my life is better. I strive to be “better” and not “bitter.” I am giving out to those around me. I have had tremendous support from friends and a local church. They have been my help and encouragement. I feel closer to the LORD then ever before. I feel like I have a new lease on life. I am alive again, and am experiencing HIS pure joy. Thanks for all of your encouragement Michael. May we hold out through the darkness to find the hand of OUR REDEEMER like never before. MAY HE be REVEALED in us day by day and moment by moment. May we help to light the path of those in darkness around us.
Blessigns to you,
Shelly, the LORDS delight!
December 17th, 2007 at 11:50 am
How significant your comments are. That was so very touching.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Because of you, I am ready for yet another day — stumbling in the darkness - but - headed toward the light!
Thanks Mike!
December 17th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Proverbs 17:3
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace is for gold.
Two different trials two different ways God in His great wisdom and His great love walks with us.
Thank you for bearing your heart.
We are listennig to your cds. The insite we can tell comes from the furnace of affliction.
It causes me to press on to the next cd.Now I can understand why and how this wisdom has come. The truth given with affliction bears much weight.
Thank you
Judy Holm
December 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Thank you for that encouraging word of today,
God bless you.
John Lubberts
December 17th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Thank you for your insight that sometimes the greatest blessings come from being in dark times. I pray for those who are those circumstances. Sooner or later, God allows all of us to experience those times - sometimes for the purpose of being able to comfort others (2Co 1:4).
I am reminded of Isaiah 50:10-11 which speaks of when the godly encounter darkness. This is spoken to those who fear the Lord. They (we) are to “trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” and not to light our own fires or torches to try to illuminate our path. How fitting that it is God Himself who leads us if we seek His wisdom and not our own.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
The personal darkness of your journey reminded me of Genesis. And then I thought about how orderly God is to repetatively use a concept or action for our understanding.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Isn’t the love of God something wonderful. He is our potter and we are His clay. Areas of our lives that are void and without form are the ones He wants to mold and refine. Glory to God that He would care so much for us.
It feels dark and it feels deep in the midst of the process but when He is finished with us in an area of our lives, God says let there be light. And there is light added to our understanding in the process. Oh the joy in building our relationship with our Loving Heavenly Father.
Thank you for sharing with us. We appreciate your walk with the Lord. May Jesus Christ be praised.
December 17th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Michael,
I am learning of these truth’s at this time in my life in the Lord.
It seems that after God speaks a word to us that all the subsequent circumstances seem to be completely the opposite.
I believe this happens to temper and test us and bring us to a place of complete reliance upon Him to see the task fulfilled so that He receives ALL the glory and we are shaped through the process more into the obedient image of Jesus.
Thank you for your words of encourage!
December 17th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Michael,
Thank you for your priceless insights.
God does not cause all things but He does work ALL THINGS together for good
to those who love Him. (Rom.8:28)
Isaiah describes a darkness in chapter 50:10-11 that those who fear God can experience. There is a serious warning against us concocting our own light
instead of relying on Him.
My pastor reminded us that just as films are developed in darkrooms, visions
are developed in God’s darkrooms. If we turn “our” light on too early we ruin
the development of the vision. Visions from God are treasures indeed!
Wayne
December 17th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Dear Michael,
Thank you and Bless you. Your e mail and many others are surely a source of Light! Good for me as I am in darkness now and puzzled as to why, and what to do. I too shall ask the Lord what treasure there is for me in it.
Wishing you and yours a delightful Holiday and Happy New Year.
Roz
December 17th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Today being December 17th, 2007 Monday, this message regarding is most appropriate to me. Where I am seems llike no way out…. Yet, I know the LORD has used you to connect this message of HOPE.
Thank you for being so close to the Lord and sharing your story in “your darkest” hour with the birth and the soon death of your child…I’vebeen there too..it is most painful.. the LORD is our Healer and our DEFENCE.
Blessings to you abundantly this day.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
This hit me right where I am. In the midst of Christmas season, which is always so full of joy, there is darkness in my life. So, I shal read and re-read this and pray to come out of this darkness. For we all know that there is no darkness in His Presence.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Thank you for the wonderful words of encouragement….I am saving this post and copying it to my desktop….words of wisdom to read everyday….the worst thing about going through those times of darkness, is feeling like you are the only one that is there, or the only one that is dealing with those feelings of oppression….I cannot imagine what you went through with the birth then death of your daughter….I have not had that kind of darkness to contend with….May God bless you greatly for sharing that story with those of us that are trying to walk the narrow path, while all around us are doing their best to see us fall….God bless you for your work, God bless your ministry, and God help me to find within myself the strength to see the light in the midst of darkness….strength? yes, because most of us would rather put on our sunglasses and block the rays of the Son….I am taking my sunglasses off….thank you, thank you, thank you….
I will see you in the light…..
December 17th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
what a blessing to have so many lives touched by our testimonies. we are truly surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. thank you michael!
December 17th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
thanks so much for todays post, i feel i am in a very dark place at the moment ( nursing my husband, he has terminal lung cancer) tis indeed dark & has been for some weeks now, he is deteriorating rapidly. tonight i felt like i had no words left to say to Father God & felt very low, physically tired, emotionally drained & spiritually dried out, then read your very encouraging words, thanks & God Bless you. ‘ There is no darkness HIS light caanot penetrate. There is no heaviness a spirit of praise cannot break’ a friend rang a while ago & said she believed God would have me make a sacrifice of praise. Halleulia.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Thank you all for your kind responses. I appreciate you all very much! Blessings, Michael
December 17th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
How true. It is often when the darkness is deepest that God’s light shines the brightest. It’s just on 7 years since my five children and I escaped an oppressive, violent marriage in what was the miraculous intervention of God. At that moment the light was brighter, the air so much fresher; but then we were thrown back into the dark morass of fear when the court awarded him weekly, unsupervised access. For 9 months we fought the system till God once more broke through on our behalf. This is such an ongoing process isn’t it? Darkness comes so uninvited, but God is so faithful to break through on our behalf. He never fails even when our faith hits rock bottom. Thanks Michael for your encouragements. They are always welcome.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I almost fell in the floor sobbing because someone understood about “a darkness thick with oppression”. I have been in that what feels like forever. I feel like I am in permanent fetal position inside and some days are literally spent that way. I even cried out to Him once - “I feel like Helen Keller - I can’t see, I can’t hear and I can’t even speak what I feel”. That time, He answered back, “I gave Anne the creativity and patience to work with Helen, how much more do I have.” At times, I will get little bursts of light and hope, but then it seems to turn to chaos and confusion. Reading the Word varies between my lifepreserver and something the enemy uses to batter me. God also gave me about the stones in Isaiah 54. I will be glad when “I am far from oppression, for I do not fear; and terror does not come near me.”
Concerning the Isaiah 50 section - how do you know if you’re trying to “light your own fire” or “turn on your light too early”? (at the risk of more battering). I don’t want my own “sparks”.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
This is my 2nd comment on your testimony.
I wanted to share a personal testimony and encourage Donna L.
God doesn’t cause all things but He works all things together for good to those who love Him. God takes things Satan did to us and works them together for our good. PTL!
Twenty years ago I experienced a “panic attack.” Although a pastor, I had no previous understanding, warning, and had no idea what was happening to me. I was sitting in a barber shop reading a news paper. Suddenly fear took on personality. I felt detached and out of control of my thoughts. I thought I was having a heart attack, I thought cancer was forming in my brain. It was horrible. I thought I was dieing. The good news is I am now sharing a testimony. It was only a test!
It was a LIE from the enemy. Lies feel real. Satan is real. But Satan is not true. I empowered the enemy when I believed his lies.
The truth is Satan has NO authority. Jesus has ALL authority. (Mt.28)
Truth believed and confessed always wins over lies. Trust God’s word not your feelings. I know it’s not easy. It’s called “the good fight of faith.”
Now,when an oppressive negative thought begins to crowd in I declare Jesus has all authority! It works! Further more I declare what the Word says about me, “I am a new creation of God and He does perfect work. ” (2Cor.5:17)
I am righteous by Jesus’ gift of perfect righteousness!” (Rom.5:17) And I began to feel a joy, a happy chuckle inside. I believe it’s the Holy Spirit bearing witness with my spirit and saying AMEN!
I now pray for Donna for the enemies voice to be stilled until you get a grasp on what God’s word says about all who trust in Him. Then you can
crush Satan (his lies) under your feet! Rom.16:19–
Wayne
December 18th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I know God is dealing with a fear. I’ve had a couple of very traumatic incidents that are evidently trying to do a number on my being able to just rest in God’s protection. “I am far from oppression, for I do not fear” - sounds like oppression comes from having some level of fear somewhere. I know that “perfect love casts out fear”, and I ask God to perfect me in His love, to give me a new revelation of exactly what you said - of who I am in Him. I guess I am in the process of being established in (His) righteousness, rooted and grounded in His love. Paul was able to say (even with all he went through) that nothing was able to separate him from the love of God. I know God has that level of confidence for me, also. I know Jesus saw and felt those incidences on the cross and He defeated them. I will keep declaring that His truth overrides “facts”. He is healing these wounds. I greatly appreciate your prayers and words.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Thank You Michael and all readers, dearly beloved of Jesus Christ. I feel touched by the ordeal that you went through as a young man then. I believe most of us, if not all has indeed went through the darkness in our lives. I went through the darkness of my life in my mid thirties when I was attacked by fear and depression. When the attack came it was like groping in complete darkness, especially during the middle of the night. This went on for about a year or two. I knew the Lord then having being brought up in the Lord in school. During the depressed years we were living among people who were very nominal christians. I couldn’t bear to see even a baby cry, let alone adults. My greatest fear was hearing the cries and weepings in funeral or seeing an unsound person in all his filth. It would trigger sudden panic and depression.
But as I grew older the Lord has made me strong and now I am completely free. There wasn’t much formula for me to be free. Light began coming into my life when I started to learn how to worship the Lord. The enemy hated this by stealing my guitar! I have to borrow money to get a new one. I would strum my guitar and shout at the top of my voice in worship and singing in new songs and reading His Word and use the Word as weapons against the enemy. In our culture we must strap a machete to our waist when going to the farm or jungle, not so much against a human enemy but for cutting and clearing. Christians who don’t strap the Word of God to themselves are easy prey to the enemy.
Well now I want to share that though we once grope about in the darkness, the Lord will also ensure that we will rise to see the light, provided we recognise that name Jesus. That name has to be written in our heart.
Isa 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Isa 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
The Lord’s favor be upon you all.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:37 am
He is the treasure, to eat and drink of His kindness as He wraps us in His love if we will alow Him. Then He opens our eyes to see His character being revealed. HE IS the treasure.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Sent to me by a friend, at a time that I am going through darkness and uncertainty.
This is so inspirational. I have found the correlations to scriptures to be truly enlightening and uplifting, giving brand new perception to scriptures I once read so routinely.
I am a brand new reader to these news letters - my second day -and I am already looking forward to a future of many more readings…
Thank you Mr. Pink
May 26th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Dear Mr. Pink,
Thank you for your encouraging words on Isaiah 45. I love how the Holy Spirit makes the Word of God real and alive for every person’s unique situation. The Lord also gave me this scripture about three years ago to stand on before I even knew how much I would need it. I had been standing in faith for my husband’s salvation for almost 16 years, when I found out he had been unfaithful and had gotten another woman pregnant. When I found out, the Lord quickly spoke to me that Satan was trying to rip the head off my family (we had two children of our own). When I heard the Lord’s voice I immediately had strength to stand. From that time I began to pray for the child in the womb because I knew he/she was being subjected to heavy drug use. God gave me such a love for the child that I cannot explain it, except it was His love. He also gave me two scriptures to stand on for my marriage, “…love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor. 13:7 and “…against such (love, the fruit of the Spirit) there is no law,” Gal. 5:23. My husband and I received over a year of Christian counseling and now he is walking strong with the Lord Jesus. When the baby (boy) was born, he tested positive for Cocaine in his system and was immediately taken from his biological mother. Then, by the grace of God, he was given into our custody and we have had him ever since, almost three years now. He is such a blessing and “a treasure” of love to our whole family. It truly is amazing how God works all things for our good if we will trust Him. God bless you and your ministry. DL
May 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hello DeAnne;
Your story is an inspiration to many! Thank you for sharing it! You strengthen the body of Christ by your very life and testimony!
Blessings, Michael Pink