You want deliverance. You grow impatient. There are philosophers and theologians who would debate on the purpose of the “waiting period,” but when you are in the dark, all you want is to be free. No one is thinking about purpose and growing in the dark because it can be so very isolating that all you want is to make it out.
It is in the darkness when prayers often seem in vain, as the darkness continues to roll on in spite of our pleas. It can be easy to believe that God doesn’t care about your pain. If He did, the light would turn on, right? Maybe at least a night light? You begin to tell yourself that if God cared something would change.
I know how fervently you are praying and I don’t know why you are still in darkness. It isn’t because God delights in your suffering. It isn’t because God doesn’t love you. We know and believe that He can do all things, so when the darkness persists, life can be confusing. I will not make light of that confusion. I have cried out too. Yet, He has promised that He is working, even when we can’t see it. This is where faith takes its deepest roots – when we trust Him standing in the middle of darkness.
I have had so many seasons of darkness that I could draw on, even the one I am in, but to show God working, I need hindsight. Looking back, radiation following surgery was a dark time. I was literally bolted to a table beneath a mask, without the ability to even swallow my own saliva, and I would close my eyes and ask God to heal me. Sometimes I would throw up during treatment and have to hold my vomit in my mouth until the cycle was over or risk choking. It was a dark season and my prayers didn’t feel like they were being answered. Yet, God was still working in ways that I couldn’t see.
I can pray with confidence that God is moving your mountains because I have seen Him work before. I know what it’s like to have someone tell you that you aren’t going to make it out of the dark. Sometimes even the voices we love can even imply that we shouldn’t have hope for things to get better. I’m asking you today to ignore those voices and trust God is working even though you can’t see what He is doing. The same God who parted the ocean for Moses, who cradled Daniel from the lions and protected David from Goliath is working for you. Right now, even though you can’t see it, He’s making a way.
