God is the God of the Darkness

He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. — Psalm 18:11-12 NKJV

I’ve always been afraid of the dark. As a child and even into adulthood, the moment the light went out, darkness seemed to pervade my very soul. Evil that wasn’t present in the light seemed to lurk just beyond my reach in the darkness—I could feel it!

Trials and difficulties are sometimes like the darkness. When they come and we can’t see our way, there seems to be evil lurking all around us.

The presence of the tempter is real and frightening. We know we should combat the evil one as the Lord did by using the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11).

But sometimes . . . sometimes, we are just too beaten by the pain of the moment, and it’s all we can do just to keep our head above water and function with some modicum of normalcy.
But God is the God of the darkness.

The Bible says, The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. — Exodus 20:21

God is the God who dwells in the darkness!
The Hebrew word for darkness is araphel—and it means to drip; to drop. It means literally that the heavens are lowering or drooping—hence to drip or drop down.

How do we understand this? How does a God who lives in unapproachable light (I Timothy 6:16) also live in darkness? Could it mean that darkness is only dark to us, and there is really no such thing as darkness to God?

King David said, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” — Psalm 139:11-12

Is that why Jesus waited until the darkest hour of the night and then came walking on the water during the fourth watch (3:00-6:00 a.m.), while the storm and water were raging? Did He want to show Peter and the others that He was the God of the raging storm in the darkness? Peter was doing fine walking on the water—until he saw the wind (Matthew 14:30).

Perhaps that’s the lesson. To walk through our darkness, our raging storms, knowing that Jesus is already there, walking before us, protecting us from behind (Isaiah 52:12), and holding tightly to us with His Right Hand (Psalm 139:10).

The Right Hand of God is none other than Jesus Christ (Psalm 80:15). With this truth, we should not fear the darkness; Jesus is holding tightly to us. Our darkness may also be for others.

The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense (dark) cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.”
— Exodus 19:9, emphasis mine

Since the literal definition of the word for darkness means to drip down heaven, God was saying, “I am going to drip down heaven to you so that the people see Me and know that I am with you, and they will trust you.”

There was thunder, lightening, and darkness on Mount Sinai when God called Moses to come up.

The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. — Exodus 19:20

The children of Israel were afraid of the thunder, lightening, and darkness. They did not want God to speak to them directly (Exodus 20:18-19), yet Moses braved the darkness to approach God. There on the mountain, in the darkness, Moses experienced fellowship and the blessing of God’s Presence. There God spoke to him face to face (Exodus 33:11).

Could the darkness that comes into our lives literally be God dripping heaven (Himself) down to us? Could the thunder, lightening, and darkness in our storms be God’s way of getting our attention, welcoming us to know Him more deeply? Perhaps even honoring us in the sight of others as He did Moses, Joshua, Joseph, David, Paul, and others?

If it is, He is waiting in the darkness, and He invites us to dwell with Him—in the darkness! Just as He was there to welcome Moses to the top of Mount Sinai and bid Peter to “Come” and walk to Him on the water, He sometimes bids us into the darkness to be with Him as well.

The darkness will never be too dark; the storm will never rage too severely. The Master mixes the cup of suffering (the darkness) specifically for us.

According to Philippians 1:29 God grants us the suffering (darkness) as a wonderful gift, wrapped especially for us. God considers suffering a very special and gratuitous gift (favor) to us.

But oftentimes, we shun the darkness and despise God’s gift of “favoring” a gift He gives to accomplish His perfect purpose in our lives.

Like Moses, Paul welcomed the darkness. He had learned the lesson well (Philippians 4:12), and he considered everything dung (rubbish) that in any way hindered him from knowing Christ more intimately (Philippians 3:1-14). He considered suffering the very thing that kept him close to Christ (II Corinthians 12:7-10; Philippians 3:10).

Which of us would not go if we received a personal invitation to meet with God at a specific place and time? If I received such an invitation, I would be giddy with anticipation. Being a normal female, my first thought would be, “what shall I wear?” Second, “what do I want to ask God?”

But in the process of preparing my heart to meet Jehovah El Roi, The God Who Sees (deep into my soul), what I wore or said would become inconsequential; I would want simply to bask in His Presence. Everything else would become trivial and unimportant. His Presence would be all that mattered. Yet when the invitation comes in the form of darkness, I must admit that my initial reaction is fear and dread.

It is easy to see God in what we consider to be good and wonderful things in life. Get a great job or promotion—praise God! The Lord blesses us with healing, a wonderful mate, a prime parking place, or some other wonderful gift—praise the Lord!

But darkness—a wonderful gift? Few of us welcome the darkness of pain by praising the Lord. But darkness is to be welcomed. Darkness is God’s invitation to come away with Him—just Him and me. No one else can dwell in my darkness or yours.

Friends and family can encourage us; they can listen; but they can’t experience our darkness. The cup of suffering is mixed for each of us individually, and God means it to be our alone time with Him—just the two of us enjoying intimate time together that excludes everyone else and everything else.

So, dear friend, are you so afraid of the darkness that you choose to live life less than abundantly? Are you satisfied with just enough of God to save you and give you all the good things of life, but not enough to throw off everything that hinders you from an incredible intimacy with the Lord?

If God gave you a choice, would you welcome the darkness where He is over the comfort of your own choices? That is the choice.

Remember—God is the God of the darkness!

The darkness is only dark on the outside. Within the darkness we discover, as Moses did, that God exists in a brightness that is only visible after we have entered His darkness (Psalm 104:2).
In His Presence we shed our fears, and delight in the awesome intimacy of dwelling with our Creator (Exodus 34:29-35).

“I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” — Isaiah 45:3, 7


Further Study
Psalm 74
Psalm 88
Psalm 89
Psalm 104

The Cross

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” — Matthew 16:24

The story is told about a man who went to the Lord and complained that his cross was too heavy to bear. The Lord showed him a room where He stored the crosses and told the man to choose the cross of his liking. The man searched and searched all around the room but all of the crosses were large and cumbersome. Finally, completely dejected, he spotted a small cross near the door where he had entered. Hurrying over to it he exclaimed, “Lord, I’ll take this one!” “My child,” the Lord said gently, “that is the cross you brought in.” Author unknown

By its very definition a cross is cursed. It is difficult. It is cumbersome. It is hurtful. And we will bend under the load of it unless we are following our Lord. Reread what Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” The cross then, is the denial of our self, the denial of anything and everything that prevents us from following Christ. How difficult that is unless we die to self—daily (I Corinthians 15:31).

In the context of the verse, Jesus had just told His disciples He was going to die, and Peter had taken Him aside and rebuked Him. Peter loved Jesus and he didn’t want Him to suffer. Peter was trying to get Jesus to bypass the cross and choose the easy way. But Jesus chose the cross, and Hebrews 12:2 tells us He endured it with joy—just for us.

So, if Jesus endured the cross for us with joy, should it not be our joy to endure our cross for Him? What then does that look like walked out in shoe leather? It is the denial of our self. When someone hurts us, we deny our self the quick retort that immediately springs to mind. We allow others to go before us. We think of others before we think of ourselves. We think how they will feel if we do or say what we are thinking—and we deny ourselves—and love them in return.

Simply put, we walk through life with a gentle spirit. We settle our spirit down so that our outward walk manifests the quiet spirit that is within. This does not come overnight nor does it come easily. It comes with prayer and practice. When we fail, we ask forgiveness and begin again in the strength of the Lord.

Denying ourselves and taking up our own cross is admitting that we are no longer our own person. We now belong to Christ. We are a gift from our Father to His Son (John 17:6). We were bought at a very high price—God’s only Son. Since we no longer own ourselves, we are not entitled to defend ourselves. We have no rights. Everything we have belongs to God. Indeed, all of our being belongs to God. We “follow after Christ” and it is up to Him to take care of us, give us strength to carry our cross, feed us, clothe us, and provide all that we need for today (Matthew 6:25-34).

For the joy that is set before you, pleasing your Father, take up your cross today and follow after Christ. And tonight take anything that has hurt you and everything that you have overcome, and offer it up to God as a wonderful sacrificial bouquet. And then, lay your head down on your pillow and rest, knowing that your life today has been a pleasing aroma to your Lord (Exodus 29:18).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 5:3

Recommended Reading
Matthew 10:37-39
Romans 8:5-11; 12:1-2
Philippians 2:1-11; 3:7-14
Revelation 22:12


Copyright © 2009 by Peggy Britt. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.