Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me. Micah 7:8 (NKJV)
Part 4 – Darkness that Surrounds You
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3
Darkness is especially frightening if we’ve fallen or are incapacitated. Everyone has experienced that jolting awake feeling where you’ve been dreaming about falling, and your eyes snap open mid-air until a second later you realise you’re safe in bed. But the terror of that second sends your heart racing.
Just as his love gets us back on our feet, Christ lights the way forward. His light is a grace gift to our lives, revealing wisdom and connection. Just as it is possible to live as both sinner and saint, it's possible to live both in the dark and in the light.
Some seasons are like bright sunny days. Everything is clear, light and easy. The way forward is obvious and the journey is a joy. Then there are seasons that feel like the darkest night. Nothing is clear.
And here’s the deal – some seasons I enter into are not a result of my choices good or bad… It's just because I’m engaged in this thing called life. Because of our addiction to control, we like everything to add up. If all we face has a black and white reason, we should be able to control our circumstances through our choices. Which is why sin gets the blame for a lot of ‘life’ that happens. Same with God.
A while back, some crazy storms hit the Central Coast of Australia, right where we live. The wind raged for days, the beaches were treacherous, trees were pulled from the ground by their roots by gusts and gales of up to 150km. Rain unleashed its fury upon the earth, and two weeks later, my driveway still resembles more of a swamp than my cars resting place. One day into the storm, nearly 150,000 homes across our region lost electricity. For days.
Some of my friends were without power within their homes for a week. We were literally living in the dark. Eight lives were lost on the coast due to the storm. Countless homes were damaged, businesses lost revenue… it was destructive to say the least. Why did we get the storm? Whose fault was it? Could it have been avoided? Could we have prayed it out? Could we have behaved it out? Or at least away from our homes?
The sun shines and the rain pours on us all regardless of where we’re at. The point isn’t to stop the darkness, or the storms… it’s to learn to live by faith whether they are raging around you or not. Micah says, “When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” He’s not saying that the light will destroy the darkness for evermore. He’s clear that as he sits in the darkness of his sin or situation or life experience, there is a supernatural light. He doesn’t need to wait for the sun to rise, or for things to clear up in order for light to shine in his situation. God is light. No matter what darkness surrounds you, his love illuminates any situation.
Fallen? In the dark?
You will rise and there is a light that still shines.
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]