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Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
WHEN GOD SETS DARKNESS IN OUR PATH
by Ray Prinzing"He has fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness in my paths." (Job 19:8).
Job was a worshipper of God! And for all the ravaging of his trials, loss and heartache, physical discomfort beyond what most have experienced, yet he knew that somehow, in some way, the hand of God was involved in the test and that GOD had fenced up His way, God had set darkness in his path. Did this turn him away from God? Nay! It only served to strengthen that inner trust, so that he still declared, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." (Job 19:25-27)
One of the challenges of our walk with God is to take that which we BELIEVE CONCERNING THE FUTURE and see it connected into our NOW. Jesus once said to Martha, "Your brother shall rise again. Martha said unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (John 11:23-24). Martha was a believer in the final resurrection. Job also knew that his Redeemer lives and IN THE LATTER DAY would stand on the earth. What they both needed was a divine revelation that penetrated into their present day circumstances. "Jesus said unto Martha, I AM the resurrection and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." (v.11:25)
More and more we see the desperate need of PRESENT DAY DIVINE REVELATION so that we might hold steady in our "fenced in path," and "dark night of the soul." We cannot live on yesterday's blessing. Yet I am sure we all can identify with how Job felt when he said, "Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when His candle shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness. As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle. When the Almighty was yet with me." (Job 29:2-5). Those days of blessing were so good, how I wish they could be repeated! When I was in need God quickened a promise, I believed, and was helped. Now I am in another need, and there is no fresh word from the throne, but I am fenced in, and darkness is all around me.
Herein is another working of God, as HE PURGES US FROM WILL WORSHIP. There are those who, having once claimed a promise and been healed (or whatever), will now simply lay claim to that same promise again, and set their will to claim another fulfillment. Much of Christendom's religious practice is to take yesterday's quickening and try and make it work again for today. They say, "If God did it then, He can do it again." And this is true, HE CAN!
But the question is, is this a deliberate action of your will, or is it a quickening of the holy Spirit, so that it becomes a fresh Word upon which to stand? There are many teachings today that are "after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom IN WILL WORSHIP and humility..." (Col. 2:22-23), that only serve the flesh. Then, because an answer is not immediately forthcoming, condemnation sets in, accusations that you just do not have enough faith, you didn't appropriate God's promises, and it is all your own fault, etc. So you try and set your will to believe, and wonder why there is no flow of life. Ah, will worship does not produce life, but when GOD speaks a fresh Word in your spirit, and you believe that Word, then the victory is secure. For true faith is not a will-worship-exercise, it is a believing in what GOD SAYS FOR NOW! Faith presupposes a divine revelation! First He says it, then we can stand upon it! While TRUST is on-going so that if there be no "present Word" then we still hold fast to our God while we wait for a fresh impartation from Him. And let us say with the three Hebrew young men, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up." (Daniel 3:17-18). That is commitment to Him regardless of outward circumstances. It is an unwavering attitude of the heart!
So, we all agree, we need a fresh revelation that enwraps our NOW. However, we often find that God does not always give "an immediate Word." There are those times when He simply FENCES IN OUR WAY and SETS DARKNESS IN OUR PATH. Then we learn that God is working out other things through the dark moments and our understanding is enlarged to embrace new dimensions of His will and purpose for us. Let it be clear, GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR FENCES AND THE DARKNESS IN OUR WAY.
"He has fenced up my way that I cannot pass..." Fenced-- the Hebrew word used here is "gadar" meaning: to surround with a fence, a hedge; hence to erect a wall. And while this bespeaks of GOD-GIVEN RESTRAINTS, there is also the thought of security, if one can accept the hedging in, and see the hand of God working for our good. How reassuring are the words of Isaiah 49:16, "Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me." That God is ever cognizant of our walls is an encouragement. He does not fence us in, and then forget about us-- but it is all designed with a purpose-- and if we could borrow the words of Paul, we are "Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." (Gal. 3:23)
Utterly frustrated, self pushes against the wall, hoping to force a
way out, and so we grumble and complain about the confines. But gradually we learn to cease our struggle, yield to His inworkings, and find there is a "nevertheless afterwards" when it yields "the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
(Heb. 12:11).Impatient creatures that we are, we soon tire of our walls, we think of the restraints in terms of punishment and judgment-- (a hangover from religious teachings that were conjured up by the carnal mind), and with this negative attitude we start to rail against the fence. Those who are also plagued with the erroneous doctrines of devils, will start to rebuke the devil and command that the fence would disappear. They demand deliverance, resisting the very hand of God that arranged the circumstance. But those who would have a "single eye" to the Lord, learn to accept every God-placed fence as they see the hand of God in all that touches their life, and while they may not understand just what He is working out-- they wait for that which shall "afterwards be revealed."
It is during those tight restraints and dark times, that we might share the experience that Job went through, when for a time he had no conscious sense of His presence, and he cried out, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! - Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength into me. -- Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and back-ward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand, where He works, but I cannot behold Him: He hides Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:3, 6, 8-10).
How Job longed for a face-to-face encounter with God. He was not afraid that God would plead against him, rather, he knew God would PUT STRENGTH IN HIM. Ah, he knew more about the nature of God's love and care than much of Christendom today. He was not afraid of God's great power. But the problem was, it was SO DARK, conditions were so bleak, God had so stripped him of all the props whereon he could lean, that he didn't even know where to find Him. What could he do, if he could not approach unto God? He would settle down and TRUST that GOD knew where he was, and could come to him, could impart whatever was needed to see him through this awful time-- indeed, could so use it to try him, that in the end he could come forth as pure gold. He could say with confidence, "I SHALL COME FORTH." Can you see the end of the tunnel, No! Do you know when the trial will end? No! But my confidence is IN GOD, not the trial, and therefore the end is secure, I shall come forth!
Much later Paul would affirm this same truth, and declare, "Having come to this settled and firm persuasion concerning this very thing, namely, that He who began in you a work which is good, will bring it to a successful conclusion right up to the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6, Wuest). Amen!
In another part of his discourse, Job declared, "I will teach you by the hand of God." The margin reads, "BEING IN THE HAND OF GOD." (Job 27:11). He recognized that even though he could not find God on the right hand, or the left, that he was, nevertheless, IN THE HAND OF GOD. Fenced in, darkness obscuring his way, yes, but "being in the hand of God" he knew he could teach his fellowman things that could be learned no other way. He could share with them out of experiential knowledge truths which they knew not, for they were not being tested as he was. Oh, how impulsively, foolishly we have prattled about things we knew not of-- while there were those who were IN THE HAND OF GOD, bring severely tested, and gaining new revelation of His handiwork, yet we never even listened to them, because we thought they were being punished, or whatever, and had nothing to tell us.
Being, just BEING in the hand of God, brings a realization that the end is secure. And we learn to worship Him for all His ways. And this brings to mind another illustration from the life of Abraham's servant, who was sent to get a wife for Isaac. He prayed for divine help, and went on his way, and when he was welcomed by Rebekah to come to her father's house, he said "I being in the way, the Lord led me." (Gen. 24:27), and "the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord." Three times in this narrative we read it, at each new stage of develop- ment, the mention that "he worshipped God" for working it all out. The servant didn't speak of having hot flashes or cold chills, he didn't hear voices, or feel a strange fluttering inside, he was simply IN THE WAY, being led by God, and with an on-going attitude of worship. He rightly could say with the Psalmist, "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way." (Psalm 37:23).
We need to constantly acknowledge that GOD IS LEADING, we are in the way, we are in His hand, even if He has fenced our way and set darkness in our path. It is this state of CONSTANT WORSHIP that holds us IN THE WAY, and IN THE HAND OF GOD. Though the reports had tumbled over each other, wave after wave of destruction and loss, we read that Job "fell down upon the ground, and worshipped." (Job 1:20). Reeling under the impact of sorrow and grief, there could only be one course of action, TO WORSHIP GOD in the midst of it all. "I will bless the Lord AT ALL TIMES: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:1).
"IN every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thess. 5:18). "Giving thanks always FOR all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Eph. 5:20).I assure you that everyone who is a part of that messenger company that flies through the midst of heaven, declaring the everlasting gospel, will have learned the secret of worship-- for that is the vital part of their message, "WORSHIP HIM that made heaven, and earth..."
(Rev. 14:6). Truly, they will have learned to worship Him in the midst of every processing-with a fenced in way, and with darkness set in their path. Yes, worship freely flowing from their heart, the message and the messenger will have become one, and they are prepared to share this gospel with all creation.Darkness-- the Hebrew word is "choshek" and while it means: the dark, yet figuratively also speaks of misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow.
How we struggle against these things, yet we read, "Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete." (James 1:2-4, Living Bible Paraphrased).
Don't try to squirm out! We chuckle at the phraseology and then turn right around and ask people to pray us out of our difficulties, rather than asking for grace to help us OVERCOME. Perhaps it is because it is so hard to correlate the thought of being fenced in, darkness set in our path, with the truth of our being IN GOD'S HAND. We know that "God is Light," but we forget that He said, "I form the light, and create darkness." (Isa. 45:7), and HE controls the interplay of both light and darkness. We act as if all our processings were outside of His hand-- out in a no man's land where the devil has full access to clobber us at will. NOT SO! For Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." (John 4:2829). We may be FENCED IN, but we have utmost security, for we are under His faithful keeping. Darkness may be set in our path, and we cannot see what lies beyond, but HE knows the way that we take, He knows how dark the night is, He knows this corner where He has hemmed us in, and all is well.
In speaking of the sea, the Lord reminded Job that "I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it." (Job 38:9). And while "darkness was upon the face of the deep," yet it was even then under His specific care. Only a mighty, sovereign God could use darkness as a swaddling band-- to bind up and to hold together while He works out a purpose so profound that the natural mind cannot comprehend. What darkness He has set in the way of creation. "Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." (Isa. 60:2). "For God has concluded (shut up) them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." (Rom. 11:32). We rejoice to know that this darkness is not to be an eternal state, but He is using it as a SWADDLINGBAND-- to be a part of His processing, bringing to birth a new creation order, and then He shall "HAVE MERCY UPON ALL." Thus we see a new depth of meaning in the Psalmist's words, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Ps. 30:5). How can there be joy in the morning? Because GOD WAS WORKING ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT-- He was able to use darkness as a swaddling band and continue His creative activity all through the dark hours. Darkness doesn't slow God down! "The darkness and the light are both alike to You." (Ps. 139:12). How marvelous!
We find that Jeremiah had an experience very similar to that of Job, not with the same physical happenings, but the same principles working in him. We can just hear him groaning through His tears-- "He has set me in dark places ... He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He has made my chain heavy." And as if this wasn't hard enough, we read on, "Also when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer." (Lam. 3:6-8). How often we have felt that way-- that our prayers were "shut out" and not even heard. Even when we know better-- these doubts and fears come hammering at the door of our mind. And we say with Jeremiah, "My soul is humbled in me." But then comes the positive declaration of truth, "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness." (v.21-23) Hedged about, and set in dark places-- but that's the time to REMEMBER that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are still here, and we can have hope because of God's tremendous compassion which is bountifully bestowed morning by morning. GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS-- yes, even through our dark times, when we are fenced in with circumstances over which we have no control. HE has the control, and is working it for good!
More insight is provided when we remember the covenant that God made with Abram, and how that after Abram had prepared the animals that were being offered, having divided them and laid them out in order, and then beat off the birds that came down upon the carcasses, while waiting for God to come on the scene. "When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." (Gen. 15:12). Full well God knew that if Abram had any input into this covenant at all, that it would not work, therefore God took Abram completely out of it. Man, and his works, can never fulfill God's unconditional covenant of grace. How clearly Jesus said it, "The night comes, when no man can work." (John 9:4) BUT GOD CAN, AND HE USES DARKNESS TO HEM US IN AND RESTRICT US just as much as He uses fences. How marvelous!
There is a new day on the horizon, it will not be filled with works of the flesh, programs of self-effort, but it will be a glorious manifestation of HIS LIFE and reality. We do not fear this ending of man's day, nor of the night that is upon us. The principle remains, "And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Gen. 1:5). However severe and dark the night may be, it signals that it is actually the beginning of a new day in God. Likewise, these individual DARK PERIODS, when He sets darkness in our way, they indicate that God is ending one era, and has brought us to the threshhold of a new working in our life. It is all ordained of Him. It was true for Job, and it is true for us in these days.
The dark night of the soul is not an easy thing to go through. Nor was this "horror of great darkness" that came upon Abram a joyful time. Yet it became a time of spiritual revelation, and God spoke to him about his seed, and all that would befall them. It was a strong prophetic word, and Abram could do nothing to change nor alter it in any way, any more than he could add anything to the covenant. But, dark as it all might have been for the moment that only served to prepare for what followed, for "It came to pass, that, when the sun went down, AND IT WAS DARK, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces." (Gen. 15:17).
The smoking furnace typified the presence of God, for "Our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29). And the burning lamp-- our Lord Jesus Christ, "He is the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world." (John 1:9). The SMOKING FURNACE and BURNING LAMP moved between those pieces of sacrifice, and NOBODY ELSE was there in the midst. God was there making the covenant, but Abraham was out of it. No man would participate in the responsibility of this covenant. It was God's own Son, as the burning Lamp that came and stood in the midst, to represent all creation-- "That He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9).
As God entered into the covenant, there was no doubt as to His ability to fulfill His part therein. But there was tremendous doubt as to man being able to do anything, indeed, it was a foregone conclusion that man would fail. So God sent His Son, not as a substitute for man, but to become THE MAN-- representing humanity's part, and GUARANTEE that ultimately every man would be brought into full realization of the blessings of His covenant. In Christ we have the Victory, and that is why we all must be "IN CHRIST," for "IN CHRIST shall all be made alive." Thank God, ultimately every man shall believe INTO CHRIST, "That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow... and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord..." (Phil. 2:10-11).
Thus God, and His Son, bear the total responsibility for carrying the covenant to a successful conclusion. What seemed so hard to bear for that dark moment-- THAT HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS, became a positive working for good, for it kept Abram out of it, and thus it was and IS GOD ALL THE WAY.
Beloved friend, DARE WE BELIEVE that whenever we are engulfed in a trial of darkness, fenced in so that we can not move in any direction, that through this time of weakness, unable to do anything, OUR GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS FOR US-- for it is a time of His sovereign creativity. And when, in His own time He removes the "swaddling band of darkness" we will be astonished at what He has wrought. Thank God He has these means of "keeping our self-work out of it," so that what is brought forth will be to His glory and praise.
And now Micah 7:8-9 adds its encouragement. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; WHEN I SIT IN DARKNESS, THE LORD SHALL BE A LIGHT UNTO ME. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: HE WILL BRING ME FORTH TO THE LIGHT, and I will behold His righteousness." The processing doesn't end with fences and darkness, for the final result of God's handiwork in us is to bring us to the light. Truly the DARKNESS SHALL HAVE AN END, for when He has executed His judgments-His corrections unto righteousness-- once He has pled our cause, imparted unconditional grace and love, then we are brought to the light, to behold Him in all the glory of His righteousness, life, and victory.
Then He says-- "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I WILL MAKE THE DARKNESS LIGHT BEFORE THEM, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." (Isaiah 42:16).
While with David we give testimony, "For You are my Lamp, O Lord: the Lord will enlighten my darkness." (2 Sam. 22:29). For, "Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion and righteous." (Psalm 112:4).
When God strips away the "swaddling band of darkness," when God dissipates the thick darkness with the rising of His light, we shall truly marvel at the work He has done-- and bow low at His feet to worship Him all the more. "Then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day." (Isa. 58:10). For so long-we have dwelt in the land of shadows and darkness, we scarce can comprehend what it means to walk in the light of the noon day-- but such is the path of the just-- "as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day." (Prov. 4:18). HE tells us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you." (Jer. 31:3). HE HAS DRAWN US-- perhaps for a time drawn us into a fenced in place, covered with darkness, but all with a view of drawing us into Himself, to dwell in the light wherein HE dwells.
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