Post #2 Grace in the Dark - For Our Struggles
There is no one like Lord Jesus. Really. Truly. There isn’t.
Our God who holds our breath in His hands and owns all our ways (Dan. 5:23) is not afraid to get down and dirty with us. He is there in the dark caverns of our struggles, addictions, compulsions, smallness, selfishness – wherever we find torment in our thoughts or regions of our lives that we can’t seem to get past no matter how hard we try.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”
Psalm 139:7-8
The places we are ashamed of, the habits we think we should be over with by now, the temptations that tug at our weaknesses – these are the closets we want to hide in. Every time we overeat, over-indulge, fall prey to a seduction of substance, sex, or self-absorption, we want to find an old blanket and cover ourselves in that small place until we get it right, get whatever it is healed, and then we will come to Jesus and show Him the finished freedom project.
It is the enemy of our souls that whispers we have to get it right before He will pour His light in and through us. What a lie. We need Jesus more in the dark than when we think we have a handle on things. If we can drum this starting truth into our souls – He is already there in our struggle and He is the only One who can walk us out of it – the sooner His deliverance can begin.
We need Holy Spirit revelation. Let’s pray for it now. Let’s read the passage above over and over the next few days and let Him reveal this truth that Jesus is with us in the dark. The truth that this is a message of love, hope, and power and not a message of condemnation. He conquered hell so we wouldn’t have to live there, both now and in eternity. Jesus doesn’t turn away when our failings ensnare us for the millionth time – He came with the keys to procure our release from them. This is grace in the dark.
{Thank you for reading this excerpt as I feel God’s leading to write on this subject of Grace in the Dark - Hope for our struggles, stuff, and circumstances. I am just trying to get my thoughts down from the outline the Lord gave me, then go back and rewrite, add quotes and of course, reference more Bible passages. What do you think is important to share about His Grace in the Dark of our struggles? This is the current section I am working on}