
                             Are You In The Dark?

.    Matthew 10:27 -- "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light;
and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."

.    Semi-official notice: Christianity does not consist in a continuous
experience of victory, light and joy.  Sometimes it's pretty dark out.

.    "What?  Do you blaspheme the noble theology of success?"  No, just facing
facts: at times I don't feel so great and full of light, and I think that at
least once in a while there is a legitimate reason behind it.

.    I don't think that the Lord wants to protect us from all the unenjoyable
experiences and depressing times that life naturally tends to bring our way. 
He does offer the grace to endure and come through them not having given up
faith and hope, but I believe also that he actually wills for us to go through
some dark times so that he can tell us something in the darkness.  There are
things he wants us to learn and ways in which he wants us to grow and mature
that we can't fully receive except in times of hardness and difficulty.

.    Is it sometimes dark in your life and you don't know why?  If not, you're
either not normal or not being honest.  But if so, remember: He IS with you,
although possibly incognito.  He may be trying to reveal himself to you in a
new way ("What I tell you in darkness..."), to bring you into a greater depth
of maturity and faith.  He is there, but the darkness makes it hard to see. 
We need to be more spiritually sensitive, so we might hear when we can't see. 
Maybe it's that sensitivity itself that he's trying to develop in us by
placing us in the dark.

.    Have you heard something from Christ during a time of darkness?  Have you
benefited and grown through difficult and depressing experiences?  "That speak
ye in the light."  After the darkness has passed and we are walking in the
light again, we need to remember that others also pass through the darkness
and can benefit from our empathy, understanding, comfort and help.

Charles Shelton

Computers for Christ - Chicago

