When I was a teenager, I did not feel God’s comfort. Actually, darkness, or the powers of darkness, had deceived me into believing that all of this stuff was happening because God was punishing us; because God didn’t really care. I remember many times, being in tears and looking up and yelling, “Why don’t you DO something? We need help, God!” In the silence, I would feel totally alone. “Where IS God?” I remember asking. Not only was our family situation full of the world’s darkness, but this darkness had now invaded my soul and I was listening to its hopeless messages. I had become convinced that God wasn’t there and that He didn’t really care. The feeling of emptiness and loneliness at times consumed me. It was a stronghold that was able to control my life. It was total darkness! Although the “light of God had come to enlighten every man,” I was one of the many who at that point in my life did not understand it.
There are times in our lives when the prognosis does not appear too favorable. Can you recall a situation that you have experienced in which hopelessness and doubt were powerfully controlling your mind? Those are the valleys that David referred to. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”18 The shadow of death literally refers to deep darkness or blackness. In a poetic sense, it refers to a very thick darkness. David had travelled there on his life’s journey. I had also walked this valley more than once. Have you?
To the darkness that is in this world, God has responded. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”19 At this point in my life, I was not just walking through this valley; I was living in the land of the ‘shadow of death’. Darkness had become part of my life. The ‘light’ had come, but I had not yet comprehended it. This prophetic word in Isaiah is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as the “Great Light that has dawned.” In Psalm 23, David had comprehended the light of God or His presence. He goes on to say in verse 4, “I will fear no evil for You are with me.”
One understanding for ‘evil’ in the Hebrew language means ungodly, injurious, or harmful thoughts. In other words, thoughts or mindset filled with darkness and deception. These thoughts are not true, but for the individual they are reality. Remember the passage where Jesus said “And if the light is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?”20 You see, there may be times when what we believe is actually a lie, yet for the moment it is ‘light,’ simply because we believe it. This darkness that appears as light is the greatest darkness, because we allow it to remain and do further damage or destruction.
When David walked through the valley, and those storms in life developed, it was his faith that brought him out. His words, “You are with me, Your rod and Your staff comfort me,” were the light that led him back on to the path of life. _________________________
18 Psalm 23: 4 19 Isaiah 9:2 20 Matthew 6:23
I want you to hear something our loving God has put in His revealed Word. It is for the times in our lives when darkness presses in and we may actually question our Creator, even believing that He is against us.
“O Lord, the God who saves me, You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths, Your wrath lies heavily upon me; why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide Your face from me? I have suffered Your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me; the darkness is my closest friend.”21
That is precisely where I was during my teenage years. The light had come but I was not able to understand or experience its power.
Did God give up on me? Has God given up on you? Has He given up on that person that you know is living in darkness? Are you going through a situation that is difficult and is filled with uncertainty? You, or someone you know, may be walking or living in the shadow of death right now. My prayer for you is Paul’s prayer for the church. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better.”
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