Good Evening!
I pray you have had a blessed day today. It is a bit late for me to be submitting a post. However, I often find it is best to write when the thoughts are most fresh in my mind and on my heart. And here was the question which has been on my mind today:
Is there ever a time when darkness is preferable to light?
Yesterday
– when I got to work in the morning,
someone asked me about the tallit I was wearing. She advised that she wears
hers when she goes to temple [for prayer]. I responded that I stay in prayer continually.
I find this to be especially true in this
season of life. I would like to say it has always been that way. Yet, more than that, I need to be truthful and transparent in my communication. So I acknowledge that it is not always so. If I am completely honest, there are
times when I find myself ‘pressing in’ due to an urgency to truly hear the
voice of God – to know what He is saying to me, to seek His wisdom.
As
I prayed this morning –
I found myself moving in and out of
moments of clarity in hearing what the LORD was saying
When
my eyes were closed, I would hear Him
clearly speaking to me
When
I opened my eyes, my sensitivity to
His voice would vanish in an instant
This happened repeatedly this morning.
NOW
– I am not one of those individuals who
believes that one must close their eyes to pray. There are times when it simply
is not practical: when I am at work, or driving, or cooking
BUT
– This morning, it felt as through the LORD
was speaking to me specifically through this element of opening my eyes or
closing my eyes during time of prayer this morning.
AND – I kept feeling the press to close my eyes and to focus intently on what He was saying.
In
the book of I Kings, the story of the Prophet Elijah is shared regarding a particular circumstance where he
was experiencing uncommon challenges. Crying out to the LORD for an end to a
season of drought, Elijah’s actions are captured in the section of scripture in
I Kings 18:42: “And Elijah … bowed himself down on the
earth and put his face between his knees.”
In my post 'On
Bended Knee', I note how prayer is a vulnerable position, a place of
humility and surrender, a position of trust.
And while we have no way of knowing
whether the eyes of Elijah were opened or closed during this time of prayer, we do know that he was not in
a place where he could easily see his circumstances or the effects of his prayer – which is why he
had his servant to go check for a result. The report came back, ‘There is
nothing’. Seven times he had to send his servant to check for the result of his
prayer. Yet he was clearly hearing something from the LORD which created an expectation
in his heart.
UNDERSTAND
–
The appearance of your situation may not
always be an accurate reflection of what the LORD has spoken or of who He is.
“Eyes and vision are a blessing, but they can also
be a hindrance.”
We
understand from the post, 'Not by
Sight':
“We cannot use situations to determine where we are
in life. We must seek the presence of God and read the Word of God to maintain
an accurate perspective of where we are in life.”
You may observe with your eyes lack and
insufficiency
Yet it does not change the truth of what
He said, ‘I will supply all your needs’
And it does not change who He is –
Jehovah Jireh, the LORD who provides
Elijah understood the will of the LORD
before he ever prayed, for he said to Ahab “…there is the sound of an abundance of rain”
I Kings 18:41
Yet, it was Elijah’s ability to keep his
eyes fixed on the LORD and not his circumstance which yielded an incredible
result: “…the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started
falling … [and] the power of the LORD came on Elijah” I Kings 18:45-46
There are times when we can see more with our eyes closed
There are times when we hear more in silence
There are times when darkness is preferable to light
Keep awaiting the manifestation of what He said
Keep pressing forward and
always remember,
‘We walk by
faith and not by sight.’ II Corinthians 5:7
May the Lord Bless You Abundantly!
Zenobia
