When the Lights Go Down, the Treasure Appears
December 19th, 2007 | Michael Q. Pink
Darkness is what manifests the light. It was out of the darkness that the magi saw and followed a star that led them to the light of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the stars… they are always in the sky but only visible when it’s dark. We need the darkness to see the promise, to see the stars, to see what’s possible. When the light returns we know the stars are still there.
We need the darkness to reveal our weakness to ourselves that we may look up to the stars, the promise, the hope that is Jesus Christ. When we have wrestled with God in the night season like Jacob of old, we may well spend the rest of our life walking with a limp, but we never again will doubt God for we have seen him. It is in that wrestling and struggling with God that He redefines for us our very nature and purpose. (See Genesis 32 for details) Jacob which means “supplanter” was named Israel which means “a prince, one who rules as God”.
I am well acquainted with the night season and have learned to gaze at the stars and see the promise of God. It seems to make the night season shorter. If you are in a night season, take advantage of this opportunity to see wonders you may never have seen before. Press into God and gaze into His wonder. Wrestle with Him, even if it breaks your leg. You will emerge in the new day with a new sense of identity and more directed purpose. That in itself is a treasure worth finding!
I feel impressed to share an excerpt with you from the one-year devotional my wife Brenda and I wrote some years ago, called Grace for Grief. There are some of you right now that know folks who are walking through the grief process who this might help. Each day we quote a Scripture passage and then a prayer to God from one who has buried two children. This is not head knowledge. It is from the heart. Here is the excerpt from Wednesday of Week 12…
Scripture Passage…
“So place yourself under God’s authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good. Be firm in the faith and resist him, knowing that other believers throughout the world are going through the same kind of suffering. If you faint in a crisis, you are weak.” (James 4:7, Romans 12:21, 1 Peter 5:9, Proverbs 24:10)
Prayer Response…
Today I feel outgunned, outnumbered and all alone. The darkness within eclipses the sunlight without. Then it comes… I remember Your word and submit my thoughts and feelings to You. I resist the tormentor of my soul by drawing close to you and take heart that this path I walk, all people must walk. I am strengthened by the knowledge that you are with me always.
Grace For Grief (Hardcover)
December 19th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Thank you for today’s word. I really, really need it. My marriage, family, life is in crisis. Thank you for your agreement in prayer that my faith will not fail. I look to the promise. I need help with overcoming evil with good instead of more evil. Help me to love like you Lord.
Thank you again and God bless you today
Sincerely,
Susan
December 19th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
OH, THE LEARNING OF PATIENT ENDURANCE. WHAT A TREASURE TROVE YOU WILL HAVE. OPEN YOUR TREASURE CHEST AND SEE WHAT HAS BEEN LAID UP IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ALL THAT YOU NEED FOR THE NEXT TRAIL AND TESTING OF YOUR FAITH. AN EASEIR PATH TO WALK, A LIGHT THAT SHINES ON YOUR PATH TO LET YOU KNOW WHERE THE ENEMY HAS PLACED HIS TRAPS. THE BLESSINGS ARE FAR REACHING….. THANK YOU MICHAEL!
December 19th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Susan,
When I am in a crisis, I meditate on Jeremiah 32:36 - 41. Especially 40 and 41.
He rejoices to sustain you and he rejoices with all his heart and with all his soul. I challenge you, can you conceive of an intensity of desire that is greater than a desire empowered by “all God’s heart and all God’s soul”? Suppose you took all the desire for food and sex and money and fame and power and meaning and friends and security in the hearts and souls of all the human beings on the earth—say about six billion—and you put all that desire, multiplied by all those six billion hearts and souls, into a container. How would it compare to the desire of God to do you good implied in the words, “with all his heart and with all his soul”? It would compare like a thimble to the Pacific Ocean. Because the heart and soul of God are infinite. And the hearts and souls of man are finite. There is no intensity greater than the intensity of “all God’s heart, and all God’s soul.”
And that is the intensity of the joy he has in sustaining you with sovereign grace: “I will rejoice over them to do them good . . . with all my heart and all my soul.” I urge you to yield to it and be mastered by sovereign, sustaining grace.
May God increase your and my faith to truly comprehend His joy to sustain us.
Kern
December 19th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Thank you for this post. I am in a dark season, and your words were so timely.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I just finished Grace for Grief as my husband died Nov. 2006. He was my friend and pal. Thank you.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
It seems that many are going through times of pruning…through the many stages - fruit, more fruit, much fruit…Bruce Wilkerson’s book about the vine and the vinedresser (don’t remember the title, but look under his name in a search) addresses this wonderfully. I lost my sister (44) last year and was privleged to lead her to the Lord on her deathbed. Since then, I and my family have been led by God in and out of several dark seasons, but let me testify - HE DOES LEAD US OUT INTO THE LIGHT AGAIN - even though it may seem the night is endless.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
I normally work inventing new types materials by growing material crystals in different types of very powerful Arcs. When I do the best work I have to put the Arcing equipment in a very dark place and turn down the power to truly see what is really happening with my work.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I believe that then you are going through a dark season you need but look at the life of Job to see that yes things are bad now, but God is going to pull you through, and remember what the word says “all things work together for good to those who love the lord who are called according to his purpose.” It does not say you wont go through stuff, but what you are going through is working for your good to strengthen you and help you draw closer to God.