After hearing a friend share some of Oprah's interview with Barbara Brown Taylor about her new book "Learning to Walk in the Dark" I was intrigued, so I took the time to watch it.
In the interview there were many things that I could resonate with, so I decided to download the book on my Kindle. There are many quotes that I say yes and Amen to....but what really captured my attention was the first chapter of her book that starts with this scripture from Isaiah 45:3
“I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name."
Recently in Early Morning Group we spent time with that scripture along with verses 4-7. It was beautiful to watch the Holy Spirit at work in each one of us as we paid attention to the things that were coming to mind. (I recognize that this scripture was spoken to a particular person, but for me, I asked God, how do You want to speak to me personally in these words...)
I began to think about what I would do in a dark room if I were looking for a treasure....I know I would go slow, I would pay attention to everything around me, I would "feel/touch" the things close to me, I would be careful, I would absolutely NOT run. As I pondered these things, I thought about life as it is and recognized there is darkness all around (for me, darkness many times is synonymous with evil/bad, including selfishness, pride, anger, judgement and so on). Then sitting a little more, this question came to me-so why wouldn't I go through life slowly, paying attention, "feel" or embrace the experience, be careful, and why would I run if there are treasures in the darkness that God wants to give? Because I have feared what the darkness "held", previously I would do everything I could to avoid or get out of the darkness.
I sat some more thinking about my own times of darkness, especially over the past few years. Many things have taken place, one big thing is that I took a deep look at myself, discovering things with God that I really didn't like finding out. There were many times of dark places finding how unhealthy I had become. However, I know that I know, without that darkness I wouldn't be who I am today. The discoveries-the treasures I found in the darkness-strength, courage, speaking the truth in love-removing the dysfunctions that had developed and more-are things that are true treasures.
In all these discoveries in darkness, I can never say I felt abandoned by God-even when I was questioning Him, angry that I was in the place that I was, even when I questioned if I loved God-yup, it was a dark place for me-a necessary dark place.
It's like diving deep into the sea, looking for a lost treasure chest, knowing you will have to "unchain it", struggling to stay underwater but realizing once you are determined to hold fast, you know what is inside is well worth it.
What would it be like to look at darkness as searching for a treasure? How would that change your perspective of darkness?
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