Isaiah 50:10 – Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

THEME OF THE DAY: THE PRESENCE OF CLOUDS DOES NOT MEAN ABSENCE OF THE SON. There are dark times in the Christian life. We go through seasons when we lack the felt presence of Christ. Those are painful times making us feel abandoned, forsaken, and lack assurance of God’s favor, even of being His child. Obviously, we long to feel Christ’s love all the time, and someday we will. That someday is not today but soon God will reward our faith with the privilege of seeing Him face-to-face in the Person of the Lord Jesus. In the meantime, He is most pleased when we walk by faith with Him despite our feelings.

So, when dark times come upon us, and the “spiritual clouds” hang over our hearts heavy and thick, remember behind the clouds, the Son still shines. Here is an illustration to help us grasp this truth. Remember a time of boarding a plane on a dark and dreary day, perhaps it was even raining. The sun was nowhere to be seen. Soon the plane door closed, the aircraft taxied down the runway, and took off into the low-hanging clouds. We looked out the window and all we saw were clouds. Then, the plane began to ascend to cruising altitude. As it climbed, the clouds gave way to the blazing beauty of the blinding sun. We couldn’t even look out the window. Did the sun go away because of the clouds hiding our view it? Of course not. And on our spiritual journey to the land of constant “Sonshine”, dark clouds of doubt, fear, uncertainty, unbelief, and the devil’s work will not stop the Son from shining upon us. Those clouds actually come to us in order to develop trust and unwavering faith in the Son while we walk in darkness. Cling to this truth – God is most glorified not when life is easy and faith hardly challenged, but when the “lights go out” due to dark circumstances which appear hopeless and we say with Job, “Though You slay me, I will still trust You” (Job 13:15).

In today’s scripture, we find the two goals God has for His children who experience dark clouds and no felt “Sonshine.” This text was one of the favorites preached by the Puritan pastors to their congregations who were experiencing difficulties and lacked a sense of God’s felt presence. What we see is the truth that God’s children are not always experiencing the Lord’s joyful presence and it is not because of sin. Sin will draw Him away, but that is not always the case. Don’t immediately think we are in sin if we lack “feeling” God. It might be because His love is teaching us the two lessons in this verse.

First, dark times drive us to remember who God is as revealed in His name – “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord.” God reveals His trustworthy character by His names in various roles. Consider this declaration of His comforting and faith-building names – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We cannot know God in these glorious roles – wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace when life is easy to handle and relatively problem-free. We need “dark times” to discover the God whose names burn through our dark clouds to remind us who He is and thus develop our faith in Him.

The second lesson to learn when clouds hover over our hearts and seek to discourage us in our walk with the Lord is dependence – “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” We easily say, “We trust the Lord” but that trust must be tested. An untested faith is an unreliable faith. Dark times are to bring us to total abandonment or reliance on God. And when He comes to our aid, and He will, watch how faith blossoms. We see His faithfulness even when the clouds are upon us. So, as we march to heaven, don’t let the darkness smother our faith. Let those times develop our faith. That is why they were given in the first place by the God who always shines despite the clouds.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see You by faith when I don’t feel You by sense.”

QUOTE: “The Christian does not always live in the felt sense of God’s Presence. That occurs in heaven.”