Darkest Before the Dawn

“Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.”. (2Sam. 22:25-29)

Note: I would recommend reading this whole chapter as it is very good.

We have to realize that we are in one of the darkest and dangerous periods in our history and most people are asleep to what is happening. Our way of life is changing rapidly, and we must be very watchful of the events that are happening and not fall prey to the further depths of the darkness surrounding us. I am writing this article at the end of November 2020 and this is always a dark time of the year for me anyway. Here in the Northern Hemisphere the days get shorter and shorter until around December 21 when they start to get longer again but November is when you really notice how short the day is and the darkness is long and often the days are also rainy and so damp and dark! I was thinking of this while walking the dog this morning in the rain. There is this heaviness in the world today, with the darkness and storm clouds in the distance. There is so much confusion, uncertainty and anxiety that people are exhausted and losing hope.

The Lord has spoken through the darkness before so we must be prepared to hear His voice again to help us through these distressing times. In Deut. 5:22-24 it says, “These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.” He liveth, He is our hope in the darkness. There is a phrase “the darkest hour is before the dawn” and that is what it feels like to me. We are approaching our darkest hour! Winston Churchill is famous for using this phrase, “Writing after the war, in 1949, he described the period just before Dunkirk as “the darkest moment”, and the period 1940-41 generally as “the darkest hours”. (Wikipedia) It is encouraging though to know that there is light during and after the darkness and that light is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He led them through to victory at Dunkirk after King George VI called for a National Day of Prayer before the battle. Millions of people throughout the Commonwealth and Empire responded and the prayers were answered by our Almighty God.

These dark days will not last forever as a new dawn is approaching. In reality the nights do not really get darker before the dawn as dark is dark until the sun begins to rise, and we see the dawn. The Lord hears our cries, and He will soon intervene on our behalf. The Lord’s light is with us and the world will soon see the glory of the Lord. Our enemies cannot hide themselves from God. “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves….He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others; Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways: So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.” (Job 34:21-22; 26-28). We must remember brethren that we are in a war, a spiritual war and we must be prepared. This unfortunately is why so many cannot see what is going on because they are not prepared and are being overcome. We must heed the words of Eph. 6:11-13, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Although we may be weary we must be patient for we are His witnesses and must occupy till He comes, Luke 19:13. We must be watchmen in this spiritual battle ready with our armour so we will not be overcome. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (1Thess. 5:4-6) The kingdom is waiting for our King to rule and reign here on earth with us. What a day that will be when we can say, behold our King and our Saviour. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Col. 1:12-14)