God is in the Darkness

So this is where the treasures are–hidden in the darkness. This is where the secret riches are–in my darkness. In my smashed heart-times when I think I can’t get out of bed in the morning.

How can this be? How can this be when these are the times that God feels so far away from me? These are the times I feel abandoned by God.

One day I found this one verse in the midst of the great story of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. “As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.” - Exodus 20:21 (NLT)

God is in the darkness. 

I know a lot about God being in the light. About God being light. About the battle of light vs. dark. 

Here I learned that God is in the darkness. I’m in the darkness. Is God here with me?

But even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. - Psalm 139:12. (NLT)

God is here with me in the darkness. 

How can God be in both light and dark?

Sometimes God is undefinable. That undefinable God is who speaks to us in the darkness…when we ask. So often we don’t ask. We just walk away from God believing we are abandoned.

This is something I have learned--the hard way. But I have learned it well. When I speak out of that darkness, God comforts me in surprising and undefinable ways.

If you do a word study on this throughout the Bible this has a consistent throughline. 

Dark clouds surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. - Psalm 97:2 (NLT)

God is with me in that darkness. We are invited into that darkness also because here is where we find righteousness and justice.

This is what I want from God! I want something to make my world right again. For the unfair things to be made fair. To stop the injustices I see every day. To stop the injustices that have smashed my heart.

When life becomes unfair, God becomes the face of your anger.

The justice I need is found in the dark clouds surrounding God.

What if instead of looking into the illumination for God, I look into the darkness?

This is the treasure that the verse in Isaiah promised. “…the Lord calls you by name. You are not abandoned.” At the point I feel the most abandoned, my name is known and God calls me by that name. 

This is exactly what I want, and it is found in the darkness. 

Especially in that darkness. 

Question for Reflection:

What if instead of looking into the illumination for God, I look into the darkness? What will I find?