The Oberlin Evangelist
FEARING THE LORD AND WALKING IN DARKNESS
September 11, 1844
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
“Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God.” (Isaiah 50:10)
In discussing this passage I will show:
I. What does darkness mean that this passage
mentions.
II. What kind of fear is Isaiah talking about when
he says, “Who among you fears the Lord”.
III. What does the exhortation “Let him trust in the
name of the Lord and rely upon his God” mean.
IV. Why a person, under the circumstances in this
passage, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
I. What does the darkness that is mentioned in this
passage mean?
1. Isaiah is not talking about the darkness of
nature, or the darkness of an unconverted state. This is clear from the fact that
the darkness in this passage is related to obedience. “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His
Servant?” Who does this, and yet “Walks
in darkness”? Therefore, this darkness
is not produced by guilt and condemnation.
2. Nor is this the darkness of a state where our
soul is under condemnation and guilt, because we cannot find this in our
passage either. The Prophet Isaiah
describes the person he refers to in this passage as being obedient. Condemnation can come only from disobedience. Therefore, this is not a darkness produced
by guilt and condemnation.
3. This darkness is not the darkness that John
mentions in his first epistle “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and
walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth”. (John. 1:6.) The darkness that John talks about here is the darkness of
unbelief, or the darkness of an unconverted state. This is the darkness of sin and disobedience. However, the darkness that the prophet is
talking about is totally consistent with obedience, and it exists at the same
time with obedience and the fear of the Lord.
But,
4. The darkness in this passage results from the
absence of special divine manifestations to the soul. We can find an illustration of the condition described by the
prophet in the circumstances of Job.
“Look” says Job, “I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I
cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when
He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come
forth as gold. My foot has held fast to
His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have
treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” (Job 23:8-12)
Notice, Job was in tremendous darkness. He could not comprehend the dealings of God
with him. Job was in agony. He was struggling with his calamities. He could not find God to tell him the reason
for the sore trials that heaped upon him.
Yet, his obedience was constant and he strongly maintained his integrity
and his confidence in God. He could
declare he had not disobeyed God’s commandment. He treasured the words From God’s mouth more than his daily
bread. He was in a state of obedience
and integrity; and yet, Job was in a state of darkness. There was an absence of God’s divine manifestation. He was searching for God, feeling for Him
everywhere, looking where he lived and worked, but not one divine manifestation
was granted or bestowed. God hid
Himself in thick darkness, and Job could not find His way out. Yet, Job was holding fast to his integrity
and to his confidence. “When He has
tested me, I shall come forth as gold”, are his words. Job was in a state of obedience. Christians often experience this same
situation. They often experience great
trials and undergo powerful temptations.
Sometimes, they experience great inward struggles against temptation,
and great outward difficulties accompany these temptations. Providence itself seems to be completely
against them. All their prospects
darken, their way before them is closed and blocked, their sky is covered with
clouds, everything they do fails, and their expectations mock them, and, at the
same time, the light of God’s face, which used to shine so wonderfully upon
them, now withdraws and hides. They are
left in darkness.
We know that God is withholding His special divine
manifestation. We know His divine
presence is absent, but we still hold fast to our integrity. This passage is talking about this kind of
darkness.
II. What kind of fear is Isaiah talking about when
he says, “Who among you fears the Lord”?
Isaiah is not talking about a slavish fear, nor is
he talking about a legal fear, because this fear is accompanied by
obedience. But it is the kind of fear
that a son or daughter has towards a father he or she loves. It is a fear to offend and displease
God. It is a fear that proceeds from a
love for Him, the kind of fear that comes from the love and adoration that
affectionate children have for their beloved parents. The state of mind that good children have toward parents, whom
they greatly love and adore, is the state of mind that affectionately clings to
obedience, and cannot endure the thought of offending or bringing on themselves
any deserving displeasure. I believe
that you know how keenly good children feel the frown of a kind parent. If a cloud gathers on the father’s face,
they agonize. They can’t stand the
sight, and must tremble and ask, “Dear Father, are you unhappy with me”? They have the greatest dread of the
displeasure of their parents. In the
same way, the child of God is afraid to offend his Heavenly Father, and, above
all, he is afraid to sin against Him.
This is the “fear” that today’s passage refers to.
III. What does the exhortation “Let him trust in the
name of the Lord and rely upon his God” mean?
1. This passage implies that we have a confidence in
the goodness of God and in the goodness of His character. This isn’t strange at all, is it? I think you can imagine how such a
confidence can exist with the darkness that I’ve just mentioned. A father may hide his face from his child,
yet, even in the absence of his father’s smile, the child is able to say, “I
know my father, I know there must be a very good reason for him to do what he
is doing”. And through it all, that
child may still generally confide in his parent’s goodness, and he may be kind
to his father also.
When the child does not understand his parent’s conduct, it is good for the child to be able to confide in them. If the child can’t explain the problem at the time, it is good if the child can say, “I have an unwavering confidence in my father. I know that everything He does is good.” A trustful spirit like this will keep his soul obedient. He will not remain obedient if he doesn’t preserve this kind of love. If you lose your confidence in God’s goodness and holiness, your obedience is no longer the obedience of love.
2. The exhortation “Let him trust in the name of the
Lord and rely upon his God” is an exhortation to confide in
the wisdom of God. It is a call, not
only to confide in His love and His truthfulness, but in His wisdom also. It is a call to grab a hold of the promises
in scripture, to grab a hold of everything that the Bible says about God’s
moral character that applies to every situation where His conduct becomes
unexplainable to us. It is a call to
rest assured that, no matter what God does to us, He is good and wise and that
even the darkness that He leaves us in, is among the “all things” that work together
for our own good. While we search in
vain, while we fail to find God, when He hides His way in the great deep, we
must trust His wisdom and love, and expect Him to eventually bring us out into
the light. “He knows the way that I
take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”
No matter what God does, we must believe that
everything He does, He does for our good.
We must believe that God does everything He says He does. We must feel that everything God does is
done well, and everywhere, even in the midst of the deepest darkness, let us
rest our soul in unwavering faith in the glorious perfection of His wisdom and
power and love. But, now it’s time for
me to show,
IV. Why should a person, under the circumstances in
this passage, “trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God”?
1. A person
should trust in the Lord under these circumstances because God designs this
darkness to develop and strengthen our faith.
Notice that the darkness that we are talking about is not the darkness
of unbelief and worldly-mindedness, but this darkness is consistent with
obedience to God. In every situation,
God designs this darkness for our good.
We can be sure that God designed this darkness for our good. We may be sure that this darkness will
develop and strengthen our faith and confidence in God. In this valley of darkness, God gives us the
opportunity to test whether our trust in Him is real and genuine. God wants to test the firmness of our faith. He also provides us with opportunities to
strengthen our faith by exercising it, and unless we believe God, and hold fast
to our integrity as Job did, and say with him, “Though he slay me yet will I
trust in Him” we defeat the great end for which God allows these times of
darkness to come upon us. Job’s
darkness really benefited him, and it glorified God in many ways. After Job went through his trials, he came
out safe. After he had held tightly to
his assurance of God’s love, mercy, and goodness, God allowed Job to experience
the tremendous rewards of His faithfulness.
Didn’t God fully answer his expectation? Didn’t Job’s experience teach him to trust God in the
future? Certainly, it did. Before, he knew God was holy and good. But now, Job had the additional witness of
his own glorious experience of the goodness of the Most High.
2. When we are in darkness, we should trust God in
the same way, because such confidence highly honors God. During times of darkness, confidence in God
is more honorable to Him than confidence in God is in other circumstances. Job’s confidence, oh, it was so honorable to
God! Job’s confidence confounded
Satan! Satan falsely accused Job of
serving God for gain, that is, selfishly, and Satan boldly and maliciously
insinuated that if God should bring adversity on him, Job would forsake Him immediately. “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t You made a hedge around him, around
his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and
his possessions have increased in the land.
But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will
surely curse You to Your face!” (Job
1:9-11)
Now, even though Satan failed at first, his malice
and hateful suspicion was not yet silenced.
Again, Satan came into the presence of God and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his
life. But stretch out Your hand now,
and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” (Job 2:4-5)
And the Lord let Satan test Job to the limit of his malice. God let Satan prove Job to his hearts
content. And Satan found out to his
confusion, that Job stood firm and faithful against all his attacks. God let Satan and the universe know, without
a doubt, that Job’s religion did not consist in a selfish love for physical prosperity. God let Satan and the universe know that the
source of Job’s love for God lay much deeper in his heart. His piety did not spring from riches, and he
could still flourish even when the sun didn’t shine. When Job maintained his integrity under Satan’s most dreadful
attacks, Job maintained his integrity even when his worldly possessions were destroyed. Job even maintained his integrity through
the ultimate death of his children, and finally, through the excruciating boils
that painfully covered his body, he did not sin. Even though his friends turned against him, and denounced him as
a wicked hypocrite, Job stood firm. Job
did not sin. When they refused to sympathize
with and comfort him, Job stood firm.
Even though his own wife urged him to give up his confidence in God and
give up his piety, and she turned to him, and said, “Why don’t you curse God
and die”; Job did not sin. After Job
listened to her infamous advice, he rebuked her by responding, “You speak as
one of the foolish women speaks. Shall
we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Job stood
firm. When Job, throughout his trials,
tribulations, and darkness, clung to his trust in God, Job, by his conduct,
gave the most awesome testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of Jehovah! When did Job ever honor God more than
here? When, if I may say so, was God
ever so proud of him?
It is as if, I can hear God say to Satan, “Satan,
what do you think of Job now? You said
that he was selfish, and that if you would take away his wealth, he would curse
Me to My face. But now, look! You have stripped him of his wealth in one
day. You have slain his children. You have smitten him with sore boils from
his head to his feet, and made him disgusting to himself and his friends. Even his wife turned against him, and what
did he say? ‘The Lord gave, and the
Lord has taken way; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ This is what Job says instead of the curse you predicted.” And how did Job respond to his wife? It seems to me, that if God ever smiled with
an approving love, it was when He heard Job’s earnest reply, “You speak as one
of the foolish women speaks. Shall we
indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
When people, who undergo outward discouragements or
inward trials, are plunged into the darkness of a mysteriously afflictive
providence, and yet, they still maintain their integrity, and they maintain
their confidence in God by doing this, they greatly honor Him! Many seem to believe that they honor God the
most when their cup runs over with praise when God reveals Himself to them, or
when their face glows with the glory of God’s divine manifestation. This is lovely, indeed. It is desirable, and we should rejoice when
God bestows His presence in glorious beauty to us this way. But we do not honor God as highly by rejoicing
in our prosperity as we do when we can say, “Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him.” When we can say, “I do
not know why God is dealing with me this way.
I can‘t tell you why He afflicts me this way, but I know that God is
infinitely wise and supremely good, and all things, even these afflictions, and
even this darkness, will work together for my good, and for His glory.” When we manifest this kind of trust in God, we
highly honor His faithfulness and goodness.
3. Unbelief in such circumstances is highly
dishonorable to God, and therefore, when people are in darkness, they should
trust in the Lord, and never abandon their God. What? Do you have to
spend all your time experiencing the favorable winds of prosperity to fill your
sails, and the bright sunshine continually dancing on the waves beside your
ship? Do you have to live like
that? Will you be taken by surprise and
begin to doubt whether God loves you at all?
How dishonorable! Will you
continue to judge the Lord by your feeble feelings, and refuse to trust Him for
His grace? How disgraceful is that kind
of conduct towards your Almighty sovereign and friend!
I remember a fact that was shared by Krummacher in
his book, the “History of Elisha”. He
talks about Johannes A’ Bruce the founder of the order of the Carmelites, who,
even though a Roman Catholic friar, he was truly a saint indeed. He was a man distinguished for his
enthusiastic love for the Lord, and for his child-like confidence in the word
of God, and his unshaken faith in the letter of the promises of Scripture. The convent he was prior of was poor, and he
depended on charity. Hence the whole
fraternity were often destitute, “and the days did not infrequently occur” as
our author beautifully expresses it, “when they were compelled to console
themselves with the passage that ‘Man does not live by bread alone but by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’.”
On a day just like this, one of many days like this, our hungry
brethren, when they had assembled for dinner, found that the whole stock of
food in their possession amounted to one piece of dry bread. Therefore, they sat down to partake of this
one piece of bread, imploring God’s Divine blessing upon it. But as they were about to divide their
crust, Johannes, their prior, arose and poured from his lips such “words of
encouragement and consolation concerning the love of God in Christ, and the
great promises He has given His people that all of them rose up delighted and
refreshed, and without partaking of their bread they returned to their
cells”.
They had barely reached their peaceful rooms, when
the bell rang at the gate, and when the gate was opened, a man entered with a
large covered basket in his hand, and a letter to Johannes, the prior. The porter carried the letter to the prior,
whom he found on his knees in prayer.
He rose to take the letter, and began to read, but before he had
finished reading the letter, “he let the letter slip through his fingers, gazed
at the ground, and began to weep bitterly.
The porter, surprised, said, “Father, why do you weep? Haven’t you often said that we should not
weep and be grieved at anything but our sins?”
To which Johannes replied, “Brother, I do not weep without reason, think
about how weak the Lord must see our faith is, since He is unwilling to let us
suffer a little need, even for one single day, without sending visible
aid. He foresaw that before evening, we
would become confused and despond unless He sent immediate help to our faith by
means of this charitable gift. It is
because we possess so little confidence in such a rich Lord, in whom we are
encouraged to trust, that my tears flow.”
Thus is how our friar wept at the unbelief, and at
the weak confidence that God’s people possess towards Him. God must send deliverance so soon or they
will not believe He even cares for them.
The friar thought that many of them would murmur in distrust if food
should be delayed for a single meal, and at this thought of the little faith of
God’s people he could not refrain himself and wept aloud. Now who does not see that when God places us
in similar situations to develop and strengthen our faith, unbelief is highly
dishonorable to God? Who does not see
that we greatly abuse Him, and do injustice to His Fatherly love through our
unbelief?
4. Faith in such circumstances is the condition of
more divine manifestations. If you will
read the Bible through and focus on this point, I think you will find that
faith, in the absence of divine manifestation always becomes the condition of a
fresh manifestation. Christ says, “If a
man loves Me he will keep My words, and My Father will love him”. Obedience and faith in the absence of manifestations
are the conditions for those manifestations.
We are to obtain those manifestations through faith in the promises
while God’s face is hiding from us, with no divine manifestation.
5. Faith is worth the most when it can trust God
with the least Divine manifestation.
Abraham is called the “father of the faithful”. Why?
It would be a good idea if we consider the faith that Abraham had that
caused God to give to him this honorable distinction.
Please notice, that God’s manifestations to Abraham
were rare. God only manifested Himself
to Abraham at certain times. God only
appeared to Abraham a few times during his entire lifetime. The fulfillment of God’s promises took a
very long time. God first spoke to
Abram in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, “Now the Lord had said to Abram:
"Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house,
to a land that I will show you. I will
make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you
shall be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen
12:1-3) Abraham left immediately for Canaan,
trusting in the promises of God. God
promised a land to Abraham and his descendants, yet he never, to the day of his
death, inherited one foot of that soil.
He even had to buy a portion of that land so he could bury his
family. God told Abraham that He would
make of him a great nation, yet twenty-four years later, he still had no child
through his wife Sarah. Where then was
God’s promise? Where was God? However, Abraham stood firm. He hoped against hope, and stood his ground,
believing every word of God.
Finally, when Abraham was too old to produce a son,
his son was born. And then, after Isaac
was born, God commanded him to give up his son, the child of promise, to
sacrifice him, to slay him with his own hand, to offer him as a burnt offering
upon the mountains. What was going
on? Is this the child upon whose life
hangs the truth of God’s promise, and from this son, God’s “great nation” will
arise, and now is Abraham going to sacrifice him? Has God contradicted His own promise? Is God’s command to sacrifice Isaac totally wrong?
This was astonishing! Isaac must die as a human sacrifice to the God of mercy by the
hand of his own father! Can this be
possible? In the midst of all this
darkness, the strangest thing happened to Abraham. In the midst of all this darkness without and darkness within,
his faith in God stood firm. When he
prepared to go to Mt. Moriah that morning, he said nothing to Sarah, even
though her only son was to be slain. He
didn’t even tell his servant, but he went forward in the strength of his faith
in God. What a relentless old man! He built an altar, and he covered it with
wood, and then, he bound Isaac, and stretched out his hand and took the knife
to slay his son. No wonder the Lord
said, “Now I know that thou fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me.” (Gen
22:12) No wonder God declared to him
“in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your
descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the
seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen 22:17-18) No wonder
God placed Abraham at the head of the whole family of the faithful ones on
earth. His faith was so obvious. It was so noticeable. If you consider the little light he had, the
nature of the command, and see the touching and dreadful circumstances that God
placed him, his faith and obedience are wonderful indeed. That is why Paul said about him, “He
staggered not through unbelief”. Great
grace was upon Abraham.
Take the case of the Syrophenician woman. Her circumstances were desperate. She came to Jesus and cried, “Have mercy on
me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter
is severely demon-possessed.” (Matthew
15:22) However, Jesus did not say one
word to her. It seems as if He
intentionally refused to pay her any attention. But, she continued crying.
Then the disciples stepped in, and begged Him to send her away because
her pleas were annoying. But to them,
including her, He said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel”. (v.24). But she still doesn’t give up. She comes to Jesus and worships Him, crying,
“Lord, help me”! (V.25). And then, do you know what Jesus does? He calls her a dog. “It is not good to take the children's bread
and throw it to the little dogs.”
(V.26). But she was not
shaken. She stood her ground. “True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat
the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. (V.27). “I’m not asking
for the bread that is for the children, I am only asking for a crumb that falls
from Your table.” God answered her
prayers. Her daughter was healed that
very hour. (v.28). This was so honorable to God., Her faith pierced through every obstacle,
and her faith was so valuable, that it obtained for her the great blessing that
she asked for.
6. Such faith will quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked one. And this is an excellent
reason why we should possess this kind of faith. Satan will try to overthrow our faith. When he finds God withdrawing Himself, and wrapping His mantle of
darkness around Himself and retiring into the thick darkness, Satan will try us
with doubt, fear, and apprehension.
When he finds our expectations blasted, and our plans shattered, and our
comforts struck down, he will do everything, he can possibly do to overthrow
our confidence in God’s goodness and favor.
But brethren, hold fast to your shield, hold your shield of faith
tightly in front of you, and you will quench all of Satan’s fiery darts.
7. This kind of faith will bring about every divine
manifestation that you need. God will
throw all the light that we need on His dealings with us. He will do what is good and best for
us. There is nothing wrong here. God will manifest just as much light and
love to us that is best for us.
8. Sometimes, it is better for both our spiritual
and physical health, to exercise our faith in darkness, than to have abundant
divine manifestations for a season, and then have them all withdrawn, and thus
become subject to alternate periods of excitement and depression, which will
often overcome our mental and physical powers, and leave us worn out.
REMARKS
1. The kind of darkness that I am describing here is
completely different from apathy or worldly-mindedness. If people imagine that they are trusting in
God, while they are worldly-minded, they are deceiving themselves. The state of faith and trust I am talking
about is as far as possible from a worldly-minded trust in God. Don’t let those people who are living in
apathy say that they are trusting in God.
The faith that I am talking about, when one walks through the darkness
of the valley of death, is a faith that always accompanies obedience.
2. Sometimes a very great darkness will settle over
our soul, and this sometimes happens right before a great divine manifestation.
One of Abraham’s manifestations occurred just after
“horror and great darkness fell upon him”.
(See Gen 15:12) This darkness is
more common than people think. Before
God reveals His face in sunshine, He will likely withdraw it. He will veil His face in a thick cloud, so
that He may test our faith so we can exercise it. And if, during this time, when God withdraws and we are in darkness,
our faith remains strong and our mind holds on to our confidence in God, we can
expect God’s divine manifestation to succeed, and to be plentiful and refreshing
to our soul.
3. It is a common but a tremendous error to think
that great faith is inconsistent with great present darkness. This is true with the darkness of unbelief, but
it is not true with the kind of faith that Abraham had, and the kind of faith
that Job had, and the kind of faith that is in our passage today. It is a tremendous error to think that such
darkness is inconsistent with entire sanctification. The darkness that our passage mentions does not imply current
unbelief, or that we departed from God, and many people are wrong when they
think that it does. But because of this
error, those who are seeking after light and divine manifestation are often
charged with unbelief and disobedience.
When a man is under a cloud, and he blindly feels for God, and he sets
his heart on finding Him, God often, for wise reasons, withholds His light from
that person. He hides Himself. He does not manifest Himself. That person prays, and prays, and prays, and
he prays in faith, but God withholds.
God must prepare him, in the best possible way, to receive the light,
before He can give him that light. The
person prays, and struggles, and searches, and he tries to lay his hands on a
promise, but no divine manifestation comes.
Then, in the midst of this darkness, other people tell him that his
darkness must certainly be the result of unbelief in his soul. These people tell him that, because God does
not reveal His glory to him, he must be filled with unbelief and sin, or God
would have come a long time ago. Such
false advice will almost surely bring discouragement. How easy it is for such comforters to put out the light that is
leading you, and cause you to give up, and lose that goal to which the Spirit
within you is drawing you. And what is
that goal? It is the great and joyful
increase and manifestation of God’s divine presence.
4. Many think that the darkness that the Apostle
John mentions is the only kind darkness there is, that all darkness is the
darkness of unbelief. They believe John
is saying, “If we say we belong to Christ and we walk in darkness, no matter
what kind of darkness that is, we lie”.
However, men may be very highly faithful, and walk in darkness, as they
actually are when they cling to God, like Abraham and Job did in the midst of
darkness.
5. Let me say again that those who expect instant
light, whenever they exercise faith, are wrong. It is common for people to say, “If you will believe, you will immediately
have a flood of light poured upon you from God’s throne”. Now today’s passage implies just the
opposite. Nowhere does the Bible, as
far as I know, promise constant light for faith. We are living in a world of trials and tribulations! There are countless reasons why there should
not be constant light and divine manifestation.
6. Today’s passage tells us that we should give to
the faithful in times of darkness. “Who
among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the
voice of His Servant? Who walks in
darkness and has no light? Let him
trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God.” (Isaiah 50:10) When we
cannot see the way that He is taking us, we must still confide in His
faithfulness, we must still rest in the unchangeability of His wise counsel,
and stand firmly upon the rock of our salvation. Read the 50th chapter of Isaiah and you will see that
Isaiah went through this same experience.
God dealt with Isaiah, and God deals with His children in exactly the
same way today. He brought Isaiah to
the place where he could “speak a word in season to those who are weary”. (Isaiah 50:4) And here we have the word, the heavenly counsel to administer to
all those who are mourning the absence of God’s face.
7. Many confuse faith with divine manifestation and
think there is no faith without some kind of divine manifestation. They think they have great faith when the
light of the Lord shines around them, when they stand in the sunlight of God’s
divine glory, so that their faces shine with the reflection of that glory. Now they may have faith, of course they do
have faith; but their joy, their spirit of praise and thanksgiving must not be
mistaken for faith. There, in the
presence of God, stands a man whose face shines with glory, and who is ready to
shout aloud in the abundance of joy, whose eye is open, and who can look, like
Stephen looked, into heaven, and see God on His throne and the angels all
around Him. And directly beside that
man, there may be one kneeling, but a cloud is around him. He is seeking after God with a confidence
that nothing can shake, even though the heavens thunder and the earth quakes;
and right now, he may be no less acceptable to God, in fact, he may be more
acceptable to God, than that man standing in the glory and in the presence of
God. When did Job honor God more than
when in darkness as deep as midnight, when in trials without and within, he
planted his foot firmly upon God's goodness.
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”? Never!
8. Many refuse to walk unless they can constantly
walk by sight, unless they can consistently walk in divine manifestations. They will not take one single step in
faith. They will not trust God out of
their sight. They think that they are
doing good when they insist that God should not let them take one single step
by faith. They have to have the light
of God’s manifestation surround them all the time. They believe, that when everything, without and within, is light
and glory, then everything is just fine; but as soon as God’s light is
withdrawn, and they have no resource but faith, then they will not trust in God
at all. They will exclaim as Jonah did
when God caused the plant that shaded Jonah to wither, “It is better for me to
die than to live”. (Jonah 4:6-8) It seems as if many professing Christians
today will not trust God unless all is light, and God’s smiling face is visible
to them. If you imagine you have faith,
when, in fact, you are afraid to trust God out of your sight for one moment,
you are greatly deceived.
9. It is not pleasant, but it is often very useful
to walk in such darkness. Didn’t the
trials that Job experience greatly benefit him? What faithful Christian has not been strongly affected with how
God turns their afflictions into benefits?
These seasons of darkness are among the afflictions that definitely
don’t produce joy at the time. They
cause grief, pain, and anguish. But
afterwards, they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to all those that
faithfully walk through that dark valley.
Please, do not treat those who are experiencing this darkness
harshly. If you treat them harshly, if
you rebuke them and call them to repent, even though you may do it because you
have good indentations, you are wrong.
True, they may have sinned by doubting His love, but
you cannot be sure they sinned simply because they are in darkness. People in darkness are like the bruised reed
that must not be broken, or the smoking flax, which must be fanned rather than
rudely quenched. They need to be encouraged. They need to be told that God is doing the
best He can for them and for everything.
They need to hear that this darkness they are experiencing is among the
“all things” that shall work together for their good if they love God; and
instead of telling them, “you will have light if you believe”, tell them to believe,
whether they have light or not. (See
Romans 8:28-9) Point them to God’s
truthfulness, insist on trust, no matter what the situation around them looks
like, no matter how much darkness surrounds them, and no matter what trials are
within. If you do this, you will help
them.
However, if you denounce them, if you take it for
granted they have fallen into sin, you could really cause them to backslide and
drift away from God for months and months.
Do you know what you would be doing?
You would be worrying the sheep instead of feeding them. It is like sicking a cruel dog on an already
injured person, instead of urging that person to rest safely under the care of
the Good Shepherd; that God will protect His flock and keep the raging wolves
away. Tell her that God will gently
lead His flock. Tell him or her that He
will “gather the lambs in His arm, and gently lead those that are with
young”. Tell her that the weak and the
weary are His special care, and that she doesn’t have to worry because God has
the ability and the desire to keep everything right and bring her safely
home. Assure God’s children by letting
them know that He hears them and He will care for their good, although they cannot
see Him. Tell them that the cloud that
has passed over them is there only to strengthen their faith, and make them
honor Him, so that He can honor them before the whole universe, for their
strong faith during their fierce conflicts.
10. The life of faith, as opposed to a life of
excitement in manifestations, is a calm and steady life, and it is highly
desirable.
11. God is trying to develop our faith. He is trying to confirm our faith so that
nothing that occurs in His providence can cause us to stumble, no matter how
unexplainable it is. God knows the end
from the beginning, and He knows that many things happen which seem strange,
and very trying. He sees many trials
ahead that await His people, and He wants to prepare us for those trials so we
can pass through them safely. He wants
to make our ship strong and firm, so that we may weather the storms, and escape
the fury of the angry seas. He wants to
give us strength and ballast, so that we may outride the waves, and safely pass
through that war of winds and waters into victory.
12. The best Christian is the one who can perfectly
trust in God, even in the midst of the greatest outward discouragements and the
inward withdrawing of God’s face. As a
Christian, he is at his best, and he manifests the highest degree of religion,
in that very hour when he trusts in God in the midst of every possible discouragement
and trial. When he can say, “I know my
God, I can trust Him and I will trust him, no matter what happens,” his faith
is perfect. He is in the state of the
highest virtue possible, which God so highly accepts.
13. Divine manifestations do so much to develop our
souls. These manifestations draw out
our emotions, and soften and melt our soul, and they do so much good if we seek
and use them properly. However, if you
seek manifestations from God as a luxury, they cause a lot of trouble. God must draw out and strengthen our faith,
as well as quicken and deepen our emotions, and God can only effectively do
this by putting us into situations where we can do nothing but hang on the bare
promises and character of God.
14. Many people will not let God take any other
course than to continually reveal His way to them. They envy those who continually walk in the light, as though that
was the only true religious state. They
view that a state of constant revelation is the only state in which they can do
any good. It is as if this state is the
sum of all true religion in the heart.
Please put these ideas away.
They are false and harmful, and are a great stumbling block to any
church where they gain a foothold. They
set a people drifting in one direction, seeking after something that is
false. This will produce monstrous
Christian characters, and it usually leads to fanaticism. Let a professing Christian run away with one
idea, and push it to the very limit, and he borders on becoming a fanatic. If he is trying to lash his feelings up to
the idea that Christianity is all revelations and blessings, if he is whipping
his feelings into a strong excitement, creating a whirlwind of emotions, and
seeking for a flood of feeling to pour forth continually, he endangers his
piety, and jeopardizes the soundness of his faith.
We must pass through many stages as we grow in
Christ. I see a man in the light of
God’s face. The way of God is very
clear to him, and he rejoices in his Lord’s presence; and I rejoice, because I
love to see it. I love to hear him pour
out his heart, to see the strong current of emotion flowing from the depths of
feelings within, and I love to see his face shine like the face of an
angel. But if I see that same person in
darkness, and hear him say, “Though God slay me, I will still trust in Him”, I
rejoice in that too. Instead of denouncing
him as a hypocrite or an unbeliever, I would say, “Be of good cheer, God speed,
go on; darkness and light shall alternate with your soul. Light to develop your soul, and darkness to
exercise and confirm your faith. Keep
your soul in all your experiences; they are all important and beneficial, and
in all your darkness, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay focused on your
God. Please, don’t be deceived by
thinking there aren’t many stages of experiences, but rather say, “I welcome
every experience. I love to pass
through them all. I will trust in God
through all of them. Although I pass
through the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear, for Your rod and
Your staff, Oh God, will support me.”
Therefore, don’t let your fellow Christians be afraid to pass through
that gate that unbars its doors, and beckons us to pass through that valley of
the shadow of death.
15. Do not confuse apathy and backsliding with the
mind that trusts God in darkness. They
are as opposite as two states of mind can possibly be. One is a state of obedience; the other is a
state of disobedience. One is a state
of strong faith; the other is a state of no faith at all. One is a state of great and active love; the
other is a state of perfect stupidity where the soul stagnates like a stagnant
pond. In one state, the soul rises above
all the gusts and storms of doubt and fear into the calm blue sky of
unfaltering trust; in the other state, the soul sinks below both blue sky and
howling wind, and into the murky waters of death and the grave. Do not; I beg you, mistake apathy for trusting
in God. Beloved, will you trust in God?