Walking in the Dark

“Faith grows only in the dark. You’ve got to trust where you can’t trace Him. That’s faith. You just take Him at His Word, believe Him, and grip the nail-scarred hand a little tighter. And faith grows.” Lyell Rader


I ran across this quote today and it made me think of a verse that God showed me about five years ago.

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of His servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from My hand: You will lie down in torment.   Isaiah 50:10-11

When I came upon these verses I was in the middle of a painful time in my life and I was, again, trying to figure out what to do and how to “fix” it. When He showed me these verses He opened my eyes to how I usually try to come up with a solution to my own problems. You know, I pray and ask Him to tell me what to do, and then I make a plan and start doing something. Do? Really? Why is that our first response to pain or problems?

What about, “Be still and know that I am God,”?  It was profound to me that God says, “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”  The truth is, I prayed, but I was fully expecting for MY actions to get me out of the trouble I was in. I was “lighting my own fires” because I so feared being in the dark. Yet here He was saying that if I fear the Lord and trust the Lord, then I’ll rely on Him and NOT myself. And what’s going to happen when I rely on myself?  I end up in torment (usually emotionally beating myself up over the "would've, should've, could've").

When I came across the quote by Lyell Rader that I started with today I knew I needed to write about this. We have been taught some poor theology thinking that we always need to be in the light. I don’t mean we go looking for the darkness, but when we find ourselves in a dark place and we know we are walking with Him, why don’t we just keep holding His hand and walk with Him?  If we are with Him, trusting Him when we can’t see the next step, is that not complete reliance on Him?  Is that not exactly what He wants?  If it takes me being encompassed by the darkness to grip His hand tight and not let go and rely totally on Him instead of me, then that’s a good place to be. It feels a lot more scary walking in the dark, but who do we think we are when we can see what’s around us, what’s coming up, and it’s not scary and we don’t feel the urgency to hold on to Him or to let Him lead the way?

I am so thankful that even in the darkest times, I know He is there and I just hold on and take one blind step at a time. My hand in His.

Sole Deo Gloria,
WP Stacey