‘As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God’. (Psalm 42:1)‘…Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.’ (Exodus 20:21 NIV)
Many young children are afraid of the dark so their parents keep a light on in their bedroom or the hallway to help settle them for the night. Sometimes this creeps into adulthood; I know of some people who like to leave a light on or have a radio or TV on quietly in the background to help them get to sleep.
Of course, we don’t only experience darkness when it’s time to go to bed; all of us go through periods of darkness in our lives that cause us to be afraid.
It may be financial difficulties, the break-up of a marriage, ill health, or the death of a loved one. At times like these the darkness can feel impermeable.
How do we react during those dark days?
When the Israelites were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai to hear from God they ‘…saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”’ (V.18-19)
At a time of crisis for the Israelites in which they were very fearful they kept their distance from God.
Moses, however, did the opposite.
He approached what the Scripture says was ‘the thick darkness’
. It was a deep, heavy, impenetrable darkness that would have made anyone fearful.
And yet incredibly, in that dark place, Moses found that God was there.
When we are going through a dark time we can feel alone, afraid, abandoned, even rejected by God, and it’s tempting to do what the Israelites did and keep our distance from Him. But Moses’s experience here teaches us a great lesson: God is in the darkness.
The dark moments of our life are not the time to keep our distance from God or turn away from Him; they are the times when we can and should draw closer to Him.
You may be experiencing a dark season in your life right now, if so don’t be afraid in your darkness for God is there with you.
Approach Him through your pain and you will find that He has been there all along; He will bring light to the situation enabling you rest in Him and He will bring a peace that is beyond our understanding.
Prayer
Father, thank you that there is nowhere I can go from your presence and that even the darkness hides nothing from you. Please shine as a light in my dark times illuminating the way ahead.
Amen.
Have a good week keeping close to God.
