In Darkness, Without Jesus
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"It was now dark, and Jesus was had come to them." John 6:17
As this text is read, I think I can hear some sorrowful soul say, "That exactly expresses my condition! I am sorely troubled and depressed, I see no light, and the dear Lord, who used to be so near, has withdrawn Himself from me!" Shall we talk the matter over, dear reader, and try to find out why you are in the dark, and why Jesus does not come?
The first question is, "How did you get there?" Did the darkness fall upon you from natural causes — as the night overtook these disciples in the boat? Or, did the Lord bid you enter into the cloud? Is your gloom brought about by the deep shadows of bodily infirmity? Or, have you willfully closed your eyes, and thus shut out the light of Heaven? Give us now Your wondrous "Search-light", O Spirit of God, that we may see our own true position!
"It was now dark." The shadows of evening were already falling when the disciples left the shore, so the night naturally came upon them before they reached "the other side." We do not read that they were afraid of the darkness; but they had left their Master on the mountain-top, they were lonely and perplexed in His absence, and perhaps they were wondering when and where they would next see Him.
Something like this may be your present experience. It is night in your soul because Jesus is away; your heart mourns for Him, and refuses to be comforted till once again the light of His face is lifted up upon you. Be of good cheer, dear friend, if you are thus longing for Him, the darkness will soon be past, and the Dayspring will arise in your heart. He is already on the way to you, walking on the waves of your unrest and sorrow; and it shall be all well with you when He reveals Himself by that sweet word, "It is I, be not afraid!"
"It was now dark." Sometimes, God sends His children into the dark. The dispensations of darkness, which try the Lord's people, are often His appointment and purpose. An old writer says: "The uses of darkness are manifold:
to humble us;
to convince us of our absolute helplessness;
to prove to us our continual need of Divine sustaining;
to make Christ alone the ground of our hope, and the object of our boasting, by bringing the soul off from everything else, that it may look only to Him."
What must you do if God is thus dealing with you? You must "trust, and not be afraid." "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." His hand will lead you through the darkness into the light, and all the more quickly if you constantly tell Him how sorely your heart aches with the longing to see again the sunshine of His love. Be assured that He will not leave you comfortless, He will come to you.
"It was now dark." There is a darkness which may easily be traced to bodily ailments, and a disordered frame. Depression of spirit, is frequently the outcome of oppression of the flesh. Physical weakness is sometimes the cause of decrease of spiritual power. And then it is that Satan, ever on the alert to vex, if he cannot harm us — takes advantage of our sad condition to insinuate doubts and fears which we would not tolerate when in vigorous health. Satan is at home in the darkness, and he peoples it with fancies and phantoms which intensify its blackness. Our souls are like frightened children in a dark room, we tremble and are afraid; but we can cry out, as they do; and far more surely than "Mother" would run to hush and comfort her little ones — will our blessed Lord hasten at our call to deliver us from our fears, and from "the power of darkness."
"Ah — but! "you say, "Jesus had not come to them." No — but He was coming; and His presence, whether in darkness or in daylight, is all the blessedness we crave.
"It was now dark." Another sort of darkness is that which we voluntarily make for ourselves by willful blindness. We shut our eyes, and cover our heads — and then mourn because we can see no light! We ignorantly, or obstinately, hide ourselves in the shadows, when God's noontide of love and pity is all around us. Oh, that I could so write as to entice some poor soul to open its eyes of faith to the sunshine!
I know, by sad experience, just what you suffer, and how the darkness (from whatever cause) drags you down, and crushes you. You do not utterly distrust your Lord, or disbelieve His Word; but there is a change come over you, and you cannot tell why, or what it is. The days of song and gladness are left behind, and you seem to live now almost without feeling; you pray — as a matter of course — but there is no real drawing near to God in it, no fellowship — for Jesus does not come to you. You go about your daily duties, and your work for Christ, in a languid, constrained sort of way, which brings no blessing to
yourself or to others. It is sometimes a question with you whether you are spiritually alive at all, whether you have been mistaken all along, and are nothing but a shameful hypocrite. And the very saddest and worst part of it all is, that you are almost content to go on in this sunless, sleepy, sinful way.
Ah! this is darkness indeed, a wicked darkness, from which you must fly with winged feet. God forbid that you should linger in it another moment, for it is the darkness of the shadow of death; and the longer you remain in it, the blacker will be the gathering night around you. Fly for your life! Jesus is waiting to pardon and restore you. Even as you read these words, the command comes to you, "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
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