Singing in the Dark Night

In Psalm 13 we find David’s desperation and David’s song, but there is one more thing in the last two verses, David’s Song,

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

I don’t think this was overnight…four “how longs” show that it was a while, David keeps praying, and God brings him out. You’ve heard, “a little dab will do you,” but that isn’t true with prayer. Paul spoke of his friend wrestling in prayer for the church…we must wrestle, fight the good fight, and like Jacob, cling to God and trust Him to deliver us!

The valley is never easy. The dark nights of the soul are truly dark nights, but we must press on. I’ve shared in previous posts about a particularly long dark night I went through…I didn’t feel like doing the spiritual disciplines, I didn’t feel like going to church, but I had to…I am the pastor! I didn’t find joy in studying, in preaching, but I kept on doing it because it was what God had called me to do.

I was on a retreat with some friends and was coming off a bout with pneumonia. I had a cough that would not go away. I coughed so hard that I actually cracked a rib. On top of all of that I have a hiatal hernia which often gives me terrible reflux. So, imagine it…cracked rib from coughing, reflux that caused vomiting…not a pleasant spot, but I was there, lying in the bathroom floor of the cabin where we were staying, pleading for God to just “Help me.”

I found myself praising Him in the midst of the hurt, the depression, the darkness, and the sickness and suddenly the dark night was invaded by His light. My rib was still cracked, the reflux was still there, but the depression was gone…it was just gone.

I am not suggesting this is true with all kinds of clinical depression, but mine was spiritual…I wondered where God was, but I kept praying, I kept singing, I kept reading through the Psalms and it lifted. It was over a year, but the light came back and the joy came with it.

If you are there…don’t give up. Don’t stop, don’t run from God…run to God. He is there and He is teaching you a lesson…He is preparing you for something along the way that you have no idea now that you need what you are getting, but you can trust Him.