Don't Doubt in the Darkness....

This season of learning....this season of desert.....this season of the unknown.....this season of waiting is sometimes hard to put into words. I am learning so much and the learning process often makes one feel like more of a failure because you realize, "I have really been living my life ALL ABOUT ME! How did I, after growing up as a missionary kid and then pursuing ministry as a single and then as a married woman, live a life seemingly of service and yet it be so much STILL about me??"

Oswald Chambers, yet again, knocks it out of the park for me today and puts it in words that I wish I could find....enjoy!

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Vision and Darkness

Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light-that is the time to listen.

The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure.

There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God . . .”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1).

The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.

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Father, may my confidence and my hope be in You alone -- not in my deepest longings, my unfulfilled dreams or my limitless blessings. May knowing YOU and YOU ALONE be my #1 priority so that other's opinions and thoughts (including my own) "....pale by comparison".