Winter 1993

Treasures of Darkness
Bill Welker
Former Teacher

"Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth
the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness,
and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the
Lord, and stay upon his God.

"Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of
your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down
in sorrow" Isaiah 50:10-11.

"And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and
hidden riches of secret places" Isaiah 45:3a.

Have you recently found yourself being taken over a path you were not expecting to walk on? A path of adversity and suffering which altogether confounded you, and was beyond your ability to explain?

You were unable to sense God's Presence as in times past. You tried to reason it out, only to become more confused. "Lord, I do not understand this. Why are You hiding Yourself from me? Why are You dealing with me like this? Lord, it seems the more I desire to do your will, the more I experience trials and testings. It was not like this when I was not as earnest as I now am in following You. Lord, what is going on?"

The Scriptures tell us that we are not to think it strange concerning the trials which are to try us, as though some strange thing happened to us (I Peter 4:12). These experiences are not necessarily a result of sin, failure, or a lack of spirituality, as some teach.

We read in our text that one who has a reverence and love for the Lord, and a desire to obey His voice, finds himself, at times, going through periods of darkness and perplexity. It seems to him as if God's face is turned from him, and that the Lord is indifferent to his cries. He goes forward, but God is not there. He goes backward, but cannot perceive Him. God is nowhere to be found(Job 23:3-8). The sky is overcast with dark clouds. He does not know what to do, or which way to turn. He feels as if he is groping his way in darkness, unable to see the step ahead.

What is a person to do when he finds himself going through times of darkness? The admonition given by the prophet Isaiah is "Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." Both these words, "trust" and "stay" mean to "lean hard on." We are not to fear or panic when we are in darkness, but are to lean hard upon God, however bewildering our circumstances may be.

What does it mean to trust in the name of the Lord? In Hebrew, a name does not mean simply the title by which a person is called. Rather, it means the character, the personality of the person. The name of God therefore refers to the nature and character of God. We read in Psalm 9:10, "They that know Thy Name will trust in Thee." It is quite clear the Psalmist is not saying that those who know that God is called "Jehovah" will trust in Him. He is saying that those who know what God is like, those who know His nature, His character, will put their trust in Him.

At times, circumstances seem to negate God's faithfulness, justice, and goodness. Our trust must be deeply rooted in who God is and not in what He does, or does not do. We may not understand why God allows certain things to occur, but we can rest in Him, knowing that all of His acts are consistent with His character. All God does agrees with all God is. No matter how things may look, His acts and ways are pure and good. In all His relations He is faithful to bring about that which He has spoken.

When we are walking in darkness and can no longer see the path ahead, or when we are in deep testings beyond our understanding, we can be reassured. God knows the way that we take (Job 23:10). He sees our path from the beginning to the end. he knows every step of the dark path which we cannot see. He can be utterly trusted and relied upon.

A father and his little girl were walking through a large crowd of people. As they pressed through the throngs, the daughter tightened her grip on her daddy's hand, smiled and said, "Daddy, I'm sure glad you can see where we are going because down here, I can only feel the pressing of all these people." God knows where He is leading us. We can put our hand in His hand, being confident that He will lead us through.

However, during our season of darkness, the great temptation is to start kindling our own fires instead of trusting the Lord. We want to compass ourselves with sparks in hope that they will give us light by which to walk. Instead of leaning upon God we begin to lean upon our own understanding. We debate within ourselves concerning the circumstances we find ourselves in. We weigh our situations on the scales of our natural judgment, unaware that we are resting our faith in our logic rather than in God Himself. We attempt to find some reason for what we are going through. We cannot trust the wisdom of God without sufficient explanations.

It is at this very point that we begin to run here and there in a vain effort to find some way to escape from the dark trial. We tell our friends about the hard place we are in; running from one to another seeking advice until we hear the words we are hoping to hear all along; "You don't need to go through this! This cannot be from God." With a sigh of relief, we take their words as confirmation that our time of adversity and suffering is not God's will for our lives. All these are fires of our own kindling and God will let us walk in our own way in the light of these sparks, but the end will be sorrow.

It is easy to rejoice and trust in God when the sun is shining and all is bright and pleasant. But it takes implicit faith to trust the Lord when we cannot sense Him, when it appears as though He has abandoned us, as He is silent to our cries. God wants us to trust Him with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding. As we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our steps and bring us out of that dark place in His time and in His way(Proverbs 3:5-6).

But why does God allow those who have a desire to obey His will to go through periods of darkness and perplexity? What purpose do they hold for our lives? God does not allow His people to suffer for the sake of suffering alone. Whenever the Lord permits something to happen to us, He has a purpose behind it. God's way is always a way of spiritual profit, regardless of how the circumstances may look.

"Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teachest thee
to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou
shouldest go" Isaiah 48:17.

In Isaiah 45:3 we see the purpose in God allowing the believer to experience times of darkness:

"And I will give thee treasures of darkness and hidden
riches of secret places."

There are treasures to be gained during these times; not earthly treasures such as wealth, fame, or influence; but heavenly treasures such as wisdom, and the revelation of Divine truth (Colossians 2:3). There are secrets within the heart of God that will never be revealed to us through our attending conferences, reading books, or listening to tapes. Psalm 19:2 says, "Night unto night sheweth knowledge." Manna, which is a type of revelation, was given during the night (Exodus 16:1-16, Rev. 2:17).

God always brings us into darkness with the idea of bringing us back out into a greater, wealthier, place in Him.

For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us,
as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net;
thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast
caused men to ride over our heads; we went through
fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out
into a wealthy place" Psalm 66:10-12.

"Thou broughtest us out." The devil will attempt to make us believe that we will be left in darkness forever. But, there is an <B>appointed<D> time when the Lord will bring us out.

The life of Moses is an illustration of this principle. The call for Moses to come up into the mount speaks of elevation, vision, and a place of revelation. But it was actually a call into darkness: "and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up ... and drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 19:20, 20:21. See also Exodus 24:12-18). The people, because of fear, stood far off and thought God wanted to kill them. But Moses drew nigh unto the thick darkness where God was and, as he remained there, received the revelation of the tabernacle and various laws and ceremonies which were an example and shadow of heavenly things. God revealed to Moses His heart's longing for a people who would make Him a sanctuary, that He might dwell among them. It was in the thick darkness that God communicated something of His feelings, burden, and intent for the nation of Israel (Exodus 25:8).

Many times, like the children of Israel, we misinterpret the darkness, associating it with evil and fear. Instead of drawing near to God we stand afar off, complaining and murmuring. We judge God harshly and accuse Him of being unfaithful toward us, leading us down a path that will surely end in despair and destruction. We attempt to escape from our circumstances, and we sometimes succeed. The sad thing is that by refusing to cooperate with God, we hinder His working in our lives and never receive what He intended to give us.

Let us not misjudge God because of our circumstances. Let us not misinterpret these times of darkness. Let us not be afraid to draw near to God when there is no light. God is in our darkness. Even though He seems hidden from us, we are not hidden from Him. He is with us and has promised never to leave us or forsake us. In Psalm 139:12 we read:

"Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the
light shineth as the day: the darkness and the
light are both alike to Thee."

There are eternal riches that God longs to reveal to us in these times of darkness. It is as we are willing to abide in the darkness and draw near to God in an attitude of cooperation, that we can receive these heavenly treasures.

We can trust God to bring us out of the darkness in His time and in His way. In doing so we will find ourselves much richer in Him! Even in the shortest tunnel He asks us to go through, we can come out with something in God, a quality of revelation that we never had before.

Let our prayer be:

"Oh darkness, that hideth our blessed Saviour,
yield thy secrets unto us."