Let me ask you a question, a tabooed one really:  Is your soul in darkness?  Is the Lord hiding Himself for you?  Are your prayers just getting nowhere?  Are you going through a dry desert panting for living water?  Unless your problem is unconfessed sin (O, we can´t be too sensitive to sin in all its forms), do take courage.  As a child of God you are a child of light, but you may still go through experiences of darkness seeing no light. Read please  Isa. 50:10.  These are times then when our “fair weather faith” should give way to “cloudy weather trust”.

You are in good company with good men like Spurgeon, Luther, John Bunyan, David Brainerd, and many, many others who went through similar experiences which God used to make them a blessing to others.   God is doing that right now with your life too.

One Sunday morning in Norway I woke up very much downhearted.  I was going to a Sunday morning meeting with God´s people.  I read Psalm 13 which begings with the words,  “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?”  I read on and thought, “This is me!  The words could have been written by me!”  It wasn´t a nice feeling to meet the saints with.  I read the last two verses too:  “But I have trusted in Thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.  I will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bountifully with me!” (v.5-6).

As I walked those couple of miles to that little Norwegian church I kept repeating those words to my troubled soul, at the same time stamping my feet to emphasize my battle of faith.  “My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation…”  It certainly didn´t rejoice that morning, but I kept saying to myself, “It shall” despite the feeling of God´s hidden face.  Literally I was walking, stamping my feet on the mountain road, on His promise, and I need not tell you that soon, amidst God´s people, He revived my spirit with a new and fresh passion.

Many clouds are coming.  But Jesus never fails!  He is the morning of every night.  It´s not so much a matter of seeing or feeling Him as it´s a matter of looking in the right direction.  “They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed!”  (Psa. 34:5).

Walk on it today with both of your feet as you thus put shoe leather to your faith!

-jn-

Jan. 14, 2010.