Walking Through Darkness

Notice I said "through" and not "in". 

When life is dark and there seems to be no light. No joy. No happiness. No purpose. Don't set up camp and dwell there.

Don't sit in your pile of ashes and cry all day.

I know it is difficult. I'm walking through it right now, too. I am asking you to consider a new way of living. A life of joy. Joy is permanent. Happiness depends on circumstances.

You may not be happy about the way you are feeling, but you can have JOY that you are alive. 

I hate the time change. Loathe it. Why do we mess with God's cycle of the days?  When there is less sun and light in the fall I begin to feel depressed. I can easily slip into darkness and dwell there until the spring. And in the past I have. 

But something happened this morning. I drug myself to the laundry room because I knew that if I didn't dry the towels no one would be able to bathe before church. We farm, that's just nasty. I have a radio in the laundry room that plays American Family Radio 24/7. 

This morning there was a speaker talking about joy and happiness. I only listened because I needed motivation to fold and put away and then get the towels in the dryer. 

He was talking about King David. Now, if you read some of his Psalms, you will see that he had a lot of darkness in his life before he became King. He writes about being surrounded by his enemies, being in a pit of despair (Psalm 40, literally saved my life one night), and losing hope. Then David would say, "To you , O LORD, I lift up my soul. In you I trust, O my GOD." (Psalm 25:1-2a NIV).

Darkness. Chasing him. Every.single.day.

Now jump to Psalm 23. Nearly everyone has heard this one. We recite it at funerals. But do you really know what it is saying to you?

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil, for you are with me." Psalm 23:4

The valley of the shadow of death is often translated as "the darkest valley." I don't know about you, but I often find myself in darkness. Way too often. And I dwell there. Set up permanent residence. And I can't see any light.

But David, not David! He walks THROUGH that darkness because He knows that God is right beside him and that God is waiting on the other side of that darkness!

We have a choice today. I can set up camp and curl up and hide from life. Or I can say, "DON'T YOU DARE TAKE ANOTHER STEP TOWARD ME, SATAN! I AM JUST PASSING THROUGH!"