Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

In My Darkest Hours

by Bernard Kariuki

My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave. I am losing all hope; I am paralysed with fear.
Psalm 143:3-4, NLT

Sometimes, if not most of the time, life throw us issues that put us in a place of darkness. It might be emotional issues, relationship issues with family, friends, your job, or even with yourself. It might be terminal illness or physical pain.

It’s at these moments we’re vulnerable and find it easy to tune into the enemy’s channel and listen to his broadcast. This is because, in darkness, you can’t see anything or anyone. At this stage it’s all too easy to think nobody ever cares about you. The enemy zooms into petty issues, and you start thinking God and everyone else are against you.

As a Christian, you’ll sometimes find yourself in the darkest of hours. James tells us to count it all joy, as it’s for the strengthening of your faith, which makes your endurance grow (James 1:2). I believe that sometimes at these moments God’s either preparing you for the next level of blessing, or He’s simply getting your attention because you’ve been too busy for Him, or maybe, just too busy.

When the only thing we can see is darkness, at the moment we’re losing hope, we should remember and ponder on the goodness and great works the Lord’s done in our lives. We might not see what tomorrow holds, but we can remember the times where the Lord’s brought us through, and that will give us hope. If He did it yesterday, then He can do it today, and most certainly He’ll do it tomorrow.

God’s an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1), so He’s there in the darkness. It’s like dialling the emergency number on your phone. Someone will be with you on the phone throughout your ordeal, until help comes.

In His darkest hours Jesus prayed to His Father ‘yet not my will, but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42-43). David prays ‘Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God’ (Psalm 143:10). We should always seek God’s will, because ours would be misled led by selfishness. It’s that moment when we desperately need His will to be done. He sends His angels to strengthen us to walk through it.

So in our darkest hours let’s fix our eyes on God, and not on men. That would just end up with creating enmity and frustration, which could all have been avoided by trusting in God for our help.

Prayer: Thank You, God, because, in this darkest place, I\\\'m not alone. I\\\'m choosing to be with You in Your presence. I\\\'m choosing to ponder on You, and fix my eyes only on You. Please forgive me when I’ve wandered away. You hold the universe in Your hand. Most definitely, there’s nothing too big for You. Help me to be in Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Bernard Kariuki is from Kenya, and married to Yulia from Russia. They met in Ellel Ministries and served together for many years at both Ellel Scotland and Ellel Grange. Bernard has the desire to share the Word of God with young people, for he desires to see young people walking in holy fear of the Lord.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.