When Darkness is Your Only Friend
It can’t get any darker. Surrounded by multiple troubles; abandoned by those who should care; overwhelmed by despair and to make matters worse – there’s no end in sight. It’s been like this forever it seems – well, at least longer than you care to remember. The tunnel is narrow and black with heavy air and claustrophobic. You feel like screaming. Could this really be life for someone who believes in God and prays to God? Could a Christian ever feel this way?
Of all the Psalms, Psalm 88 is the darkest and saddest. It starts off with a cry of despair to God and ends with a sinking resignation to darkness. Usually a Psalm starts off with a cry to the Lord due to some distress but eventually ends on an upbeat note of praise to the Lord Almighty. The bottom line for many of the Psalms is: Cheer up. God’s on the Throne. But Psalm 88 is different. The billows of despair and waves of pain and sorrow are pounding in rapid succession against the writer at the beginning of the poem – in the middle and at the end. Have you ever felt that way?
The final few words are these:
LORD, why castest thou off my soul?
Why hidest thou thy face from me?…
….while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off….
….Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,
and mine acquaintance into darkness.
(Psalm 88:14-18)
More than one Bible scholar suggests the real force of the last few words is this: “My companions have become darkness.” Or “The only friend I have left is Darkness.”
Remember a small group of men soaking wet in the darkness of the midnight in the middle of a storm? Convinced the ship was going to the bottom, they were terrified. They had sailed through rough waters on that very same lake many times but they just knew this night would be their last. Darkness replaced the moon. The distant but friendly glimmering stars were no where to be seen. All they could feel externally was the cold water drenching their weary bodies. All they could see was darkness. All they could hear was the howling wind and the crashing of the waves. All they could think was disaster.
But were they alone? Sleeping (but ever in control) and resting His head on the tough old leather cushion was the Lord Himself. Don’t think for a second He was dry and warm – somehow sleeping in a little glass bubble. He was in the same boat. The waves that were washing up over the sides of the boat were hitting Him too. The boat was taking on water quickly – soon, they thought it would sink to the bottom and they would perish.
The night couldn’t have been darker. Did He raise His arms in an outstretched way or did He lift one arm and with his hand make a pointing gesture to the wind ‘out there’ and then utter those words that still echo in our hearts today: “Peace! Be still!” Mark 4:39
Child of God, does it feel the only friend you have left is ‘Darkness’? Have you ever studied the ‘night scenes’ throughout your Bible? Have you meditated on Bible characters who not only found themselves in the middle of a dark literal night but also a dark night of circumstances? And something special happened – God made His Presence very real to them. Oh yes – they still had to experience the darkness but it was in those very circumstances they appreciated the Lord in way they had never experienced Him before.
Christ endured the darkness. He experienced abandonment. He knew what it was to be forsaken and alone. Now, in the middle of your night He gently whispers in the darkness: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5