“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Those are the first ten words in the Bible. The Bible actually tells us, from its very first pages, that God is the Creator of heaven and earth. It went further to tell us that God created the day and night from darkness. And we get to see, as the story of creation progresses, that the day and night marked the beginning and the end of a whole day. God, Who is wisdom, looked at the day and night He created and called them…“Good.” Like, God made an assessment of the day and night and His conclusion was “They’re good.”
“Night” was a perfect idea that God deliberately created but the night gives us little vision, and that can be uncomfortable. We all want to be in the company of brightness, so when we can’t see like we want to…when we can’t do things that we want to…we get agitated and anxious.
Darkness isn’t the same as night
Before God created the day and night, darkness was already in existence. The Bible says darkness covered the face of the earth and God spoke light into existence (SEE Genesis 1). So, Light and darkness were before God…and God decided to rename them. He called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” Hence, darkness was no longer “darkness”, it was now called night. Night, like every other thing, was created out of darkness. It was created to help us know seasons and times. Though night looks like darkness in the physical, it isn’t the same as darkness in the spiritual because God didn’t just leave the day and night, He went ahead to create two “great lights” one to govern the day and the other to govern the night. The night had something that the darkness never had…a great light.
Now, if we read the story of creation carefully, we’ll see that after the darkness was renamed night, darkness was no longer used to qualify that part of creation. Another word that replaces night, as seen in the Bible, is evening. At the end of creation, darkness was no longer in the picture. We have what looks like darkness, but it isn’t darkness…because it has God’s great light: the moon…and it also has the stars. Darkness can’t exist where there is light…or to put it in context…darkness can’t exist where God’s great light is. Darkness is now a thing that is associated with the devil and his kingdom.
Let’s fast-forward to the story of the ten plagues in Exodus 10. Because God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, he refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt, so God sent ten plagues upon Egypt. The ninth plague was darkness…that lasted for three whole days. This darkness, however, didn’t get to Goshen (where the Israelites lived). The Bible tells us that there was light in Goshen. Now, the darkness was for three days, but there was light in Goshen. You see, even the night that the Israelites experienced in Goshen during those three days, wasn’t qualified as darkness. It was qualified as light, because though night looks like darkness in our eyes, it isn’t. Night has God’s great light in it.
There are nights when we can’t see the moon and the twinkling stars because the clouds will cover them. But whether we see them or not…they’re up there…in the position God assigned them to be in, when He created them. They are God’s light, and their mission is to govern the night. They are the reason why the night is different from darkness. They are the reason why the night is FULL of God’s presence.
Christians don’t experience darkness…we go through nights
Our lives on earth are like the day and night. In this context, “Day” represents our days of warm smiles and heartfelt laughter…the days when we can see the colours of life and really appreciate God for them…the days when we can see our path clearly and understand where to make the right turns. “Night” represents our days of anxiety and fears…the days when everywhere is extremely quiet and we can even hear the tree when it cracks…the days when we begin to see different figures as monsters…the days of training…the days when God will allow heavy weight come on us, and when we scream:
“God this is heavy! I can’t lift it!”
God says, “Yes I know it’s heavy, but you can lift it. If you can’t, I wouldn’t allow it come on you. My Grace is sufficient for you”
Nights are the days when things aren’t working the way we desire…the days when we can’t see the colours of life…the days when all we can see is a dead end, and we meet the spiritual reality of working by faith and not by sight…the days when we wish we didn’t have life…the days when it feels like God has abandoned us. The nights are the days when God prunes us to make us grow better and stronger.
Darkness represents a hopeless situation and hopelessness can never be the portion of God’s saints. The Bible tells us that we’ve been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light (SEE 1Peter 2:9). God can’t allow us experience darkness again. Darkness does not exist in our lives no more. When our night comes, we become scared and wonder why God will have us stay in the “dark.” The devil makes us believe that we’re in the dark. We feel God has abandoned us. We feel our situation is hopeless. We cry…and cry hard. We question God over and over again. We believe the devil’s lies. Everywhere becomes extremely quiet. We feel like our world has come to an end, and we wonder why God still keeps His breath in our lungs.
Let me say it in block letters: AS A CHRISTIAN, YOU CAN NEVER BE IN A HOPELESS SITUATION. DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIES OF THE devil!
We can’t be in the dark…we just go through nights which are FULL of God’s great light…and they will definitely fade and bring in a new morning. Night can never last forever; it will surely give way for a new day. And God didn’t go anywhere. He’s with us in our nights. His Great Light is there. His unconditional love is there. The night still has the FULLNESS of His GRACE.
God wants us to do what we are supposed to do at night…REST. Refuse the anxiety and fear and just…REST. Allow God’s Word to help you REST. Speak His Word so boldly and let them add more twinkles to your nights…twinkles that shine better than the stars. Let your praises rise higher than that of the crickets and frogs…because of what God has already said concerning you in His Word. Don’t say what the devil wants you to say. Don’t play out the devil’s script. Stick to God’s promises in His Word. Let’s allow our being to experience God’s Great Light…His Great Grace…even in our nights.
Before God, our nights are as good as our mornings…because if we don’t go through the nights, we won’t build the capacity and strength we need for what He has called us to be and do on earth. He is the God of the Day…and He’s also the God of the Night. When night comes…do have a GRACE NIGHT, because even our nights are FULL of God’s Grace.
My prayer for you and me:
God has not given us a spirit of timidity. We have the spirit of love, power and a sound mind. When the devil comes to trick us, we’ll resist him. We won’t believe his lies no more. Our God given spirit will spring forth and we’ll declare God’s Word over the devil’s lies. Even in our nights, we’ll be at the center of God’s will for our lives. During our nights, we won’t lose faith in God; our faith will grow stronger, and we’ll become all God wants us to be.
In Jesus’ name…Amen.
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