Quite a Journey--But a Great God!

Anyone who knows what a "dark night of the soul" really means has had to walk through some deep waters in their life.

A dark night of the soul is a time (could be a week, could be 25 years) when God seems so distant and the light is simply not shining inside you.  It seems dark and cold and lonely.  Not a pleasant place to be sure.  But it is something that God uses to help to shape us and develop character in us.  It sounds a bit harsh to imagine this loving God allowing such times of pain and suffering, but if you think about it, the development of character in us is something that is extremely valuable. 

We just want to have the character without the work.

Romans 5 talks about this character development: "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us."

Love this!  It begins with rejoicing, moves into the suffering times, then ends with hope!  Take note of this:  if you are in a good place spiritually then you are either just entering a time of struggle, or you have just come out of a time of struggle.  Either way you are blessed because the pay-off of rejoicing and hope is clear, you are living on the mountaintop!  And if you are in the suffering time--then you are blessed as well because God is building you into a strong person of character!  The pay-off here is not so clear because it's dark, but it's still good. 

God doesn't expect you to be bouncing around trying to act like everything is OK if you are really struggling--it's OK to hurt and a struggle is just that, a struggle!  But take heart.  Good is coming from this and you will see it one day too.

God is taking me through a struggling time, but He has not left me alone.  I walked into the Bible book store the other day and the first thing I saw when I walked through the door was a Leadership magazine that was all about stories of people going through the 'dark night of the soul'. 

Later, as I read it, it was like my parched soul was drinking cool refreshing water.  . . . . .

It was not an accident that this magazine was the only thing I saw.  It was not an accident that this was the only copy left in the store, and that it was still there when I walked in.  God wanted me to read it, because he really does love me.

And he loves you too.

So if you are struggling today, remember that God is at work in your life--He has not abandoned you. In fact he is building something in you that is a wonder to behold!

This is quite a journey--but what a great God!

BT