Pray God’s Word into Your Darkness
Are your days filled with loneliness? Do you dread getting up and facing another day?
Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.
“Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10, NIV).
All of us experience crisis. Pits as well as peaks are normal for everyone. Some worldly-wise fellow said, “Life is a series of peaks and valleys and the peaks are greased.” Crisis can bring depression; depression suffocates joy. Emotional or spiritual discouragement sucks our energy, leaving us limp, immobile. But trouble can also force growth. Deep people grow in dark places.
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How will we react when trouble comes? Should we have a pity party? Go to bed hoping tomorrow brings a remedy? I’ve learned I can either grow or groan. And, I confess, sometimes I do both. Growth is God’s choice for me. I grow by searching my Bible and claiming His encouraging word for my bleak situation.
Studying God’s Word and praying is generally the last thing most of us want to do when heavyhearted. Yet that is the very thing we need to do first.
When darkness snuffs out my nightlight, God provides radiant insight in Scripture. If I open the Word when I’m discouraged and eat the Bread of Life my dark attitude brightens. The situation may not change but my attitude does.
“For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness” (Psalm 18:28, NIV).
When dark days overtake you, actively trust God by applying His truth to the problem. Meditate on specific verses for encouragement. For example, Isaiah 50:10, above, speaks hope. God’s challenge, through Isaiah, is to “trust in the name” and “rely on” Him.
I love this Amplified translation of that verse:
“Who is among you who [reverently] fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of His Servant, yet who walks in darkness and deep trouble and has no shining splendor in his heart? Let him rely on, trust in, and be confident in the name of the Lord and let him lean upon and be supported by his God” (Isaiah 50:10 Amplified).
We grow in confidence and rely on God to support us when we:
• Choose to believe Scripture; let His Word and promised presence remind us we are not alone.
• Deliberately lay our fears on God’s altar and look past circumstances to Christ.
• Trust and praise God in spite of problems. He is Lord of all circumstances and will give us either answers or grace. Let’s learn to lean so hard that we will fall if He moves.
Have you lost your shining splendor? Render Praise. Raise your darkling heart, Impart your troubles to our God, Rod of Leaning, Staff of Hope.
Father God, I trust Your Word. Your faithfulness is sufficient when darkness overwhelms my life. I lay my fears on Your altar and lean into Your comfort until this storm lifts. Thank You. Amen.
Questions: How do you react when trouble comes? How does one grow in confidence in the Lord?
About the Author Petey Prater
Father, thanks for women searching for the reality of your person, your voice. You have promised that those who ask, receive, those who seek, find, those who knock have the door opened. YOu do not rebuff your servants, but pull them close and quiet their fears and comfort their hearts. Thank you for your faithfulness Father. You have promised to be our husband, Isaiah 54:12, our comforter, Psalms 32:8,9 and the lifter of our heads. And so we come to be made whole, to sit in your light, to learn to walk in crisis and valley and grow strong for our God. Get glory Lord from our lives we ask in the precious name of Jesus. amen. Petey, your sister in Christ.
Thanks Peter for your message.
Wow, this was a poignant message. Thank you. Please pray for me, I am struggling through a work situation, whether to take a job or not, and the wisdom to confront with God’s power, grace, wisdom. Also, for protection from scams, fraud, etc. as I search for a job. Please pray for guidance, as I pray about going to another church, that God might want me to go to. Pray I will keep the Lord as my focus, my true Savior, and not turn to the right or left. For a whole-hearted devotion to the Lord, and not to succumb to the ways of this world (no matter how others around may be living their lives). Thanks.
Dear friends,
I am plugging in late today but have read all your comments. Crisis is about character I have learned. God desires we trust Him; we won’t without crisis. He promises that “all the walls of our enclosures (pit places) are made of precious stones.” Isaiah 54:12 I find when I lay down denial,anger,bargaining, depression,and move to acceptance then He fills my hands with precious stones from my grief pit. As I trust His loving Sovereignty He sends peace or the answer for me and gets great glory to His name. Then having suffered I have truths to assuage and nourish others in their grief. Precious friends, He never wastes an ounce of our suffering, for He is just and loving. He has purposes higher than our wildest dreams for us. Hang on, morning will soon be here. It will be worth it all. May His love give confidence and joy again. hugs, petey prater
“mourning”
Thanks you Peter for a wonderful devotion. My extended family is going through a deep period of grief and morning over the loss of a young person in our family. This devotion offers a ray of light. father God, I lift up all of these readers today who are going through periods of darkness of their own. Please continue to shine rays of light, love, and hope to all of us. Thanks in Jesus’s name. AMen
Thank you, I really needed this today.
I’ve been avoiding God for some time now, and getting more & more depressed and lonely.
This was so encouraging.
Thanks so much for this devotional and of all the faith filled posts. I am in very dark days here right now. Still I know He is there and I feel Him drawing me back from the depression. Sometimes very sad things happen. There is no way around the grief but to go through it. I truly thank the Lord that He is. I know He knows my heart and is with me. There is so much beyond our understanding and that can be very hard to deal with. I take comfort in that is exactly what His words says that the “peace of God which passeth all understanding”. I know that I have to let go and have faith especially when my heart is broken, a loved one passed away and emptiness left behind. Now is the time to rejoice and have faith for as I cannot do it on my own He is with me. God bless you all.
The Word of God is a light oh yeah! I also am a praise and worshiper and I love to sing His Word. Dark attitudes for me have been a common place lately because of situations and circumstance that are beyond my control and I know when I get up in the morning I need the mighty hand of God to get me to each step of the day. So I get my devotion time done, starting with a song in my heart, and the word then this devotion and then I am ready for whatever comes my way, and the song stays on my lips for the whole day. Thank God for Jesus the Holy Spirit and His Word!
No Pam…we would love to have you join us. Hope to see you sometime!!
Thanks for the refresher course this morning in this devotional, was needed! I know where I need to go for his comfort, his rod and his staff, and the word is a light into my darkness, I’d love to join the devotional this morning, I am in the central time zone…and have no speakers, are speakers needed for this chat? father god have your will and your way in my life today in jesus name I pray…
Amen Cyndi & Francisca
I certainly do Praise Him to know that He is there for us always…to strengthen, comfort, and to help us find peace in all situations.
When darkness snuffs out my nightlight, God provides radiant insight in Scripture. If I open the Word when I’m discouraged and eat the Bread of Life my dark attitude brightens. The situation may not change but my attitude does.
This is my advice, commend and gain from today’s devotional. Thank you much.
This is hitting home. So lonely all the time these days but when I’m in the word my lonliness lifts for a little while. God has been wonderful, he keeps bringing devotionals and books across my path everyday to remind me that he is there and that he cares. Really wish I could join today’s discussion group but my job has me in a training class this morning. But I’m very thankful for the reminder that God sent in today’s devotional.