I Can Find God in the Darkness

Advent & Christmas

December 8, 2023

I Can Find God in the Darkness 

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God!

Psalm 43:5

Read: Psalm 42, 43

Because the refrain in Psalm 42:5 is repeated in verse 11, and in Psalm 43:5, and because of the repetition of the theme in Psalm 42 to Psalm 43, they are generally considered to have been one psalm originally.

These Psalms took on renewed interest a few years ago. The covid-19 pandemic shut down much of our economy and most of our churches for many months. Saint Augustine noted that we have a God-shaped vacuum within, and we will not be at peace until we allow God to fill the vacuum. These Psalms remind me that God created me with the need to be loved, accepted, and valued, and only God can fulfill these needs. Many people experience God meeting their needs within the church. When the churches closed, many people felt cut off from God.

The psalmist was living in a time when he believed he could only worship God within the Temple. His reality caused him to use hyperbole to express his sense of loss, his sense of longing for closeness to God. But whatever his inner turmoil, the psalmist was single-minded in his purpose:

“There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!” (43:4)

The psalmist knew who alone could fill the God-shaped vacuum in his heart.

In August of 2020, after most churches had been closed for six months, we began attending weekly Services of Holy Communion at an Anglican Church that was open for worship. I recall reading that Saint Thomas Aquinas referred to Holy Communion, or The Lord’s Supper, as ‘food for the journey.” He was so right. I believe our participation in the Sacrament sustained us through the pandemic. In the darkness of the pandemic, as our souls were longing to worship God “As the deer longs for streams of water,” (42:1) we were led by the Holy Spirit to a place where we found food for our journey.

My Takeaway: One of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits is to keep the end in sight. In the darkest moments of the pandemic, we never lost sight that our heart’s desire was to kneel at the altar of God and taste the bread and the cup. We put our hope in God and He led us to His table.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.