Doubt in Darkness

       Doubt is sure to find its way into our lives. We are only human and our minds can be darkened. We can feel far away from God. It may seem like he sometimes hides himself from us. For the most part, doubt it is an attack from Satan on a Christian’s faith and his/her sureness of God’s sovereignty, mercy, and comfort.

The only use for doubt that I have found is that it sometimes spurs us to ask questions of God in order to receive his answers. But we must wait for his answers and be ready to accept them.

In Hosea, God says that the people of Israel have a love for him like the morning dew that quickly disappears. The same can be said for us Christians, I am sure. God tells his people in Hosea chapter 6 to hold on and be sure in him.

^{Hosea 6: 3} Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;

his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.”

God tells us that we may not receive his comforts or his answers right away. The emphasis on “pressing on to know the LORD” tells us that it may be hard to do so. At 4 AM it may be so dark that the coming light seems impossible and a complete 180 degrees from the current situation. We know from experience however, that there is sure to be a morning sunrise.

          The spring rains mentioned in this scripture are also referred to as the latter rains elsewhere in the Bible. The growing seasons are a little different in the heat of Palestine than we are used to. Seeds were sown in the fall during the former rains. The latter (or spring) rains came right before the harvesting of the grains and corn. This rain gave the plants their fruitfulness and was a big determining factor in a bountiful harvest. This is also mentioned similarly in:

^{Joel 2: 23} “Be glad, O children of Zion,

and rejoice in the LORD your God,

for he has given the early rain for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the latter rain, as before.

Like plants, we need hard times of drought in order to spread out our roots and send our roots deeper. We need to seek out life giving water in everyway that we can. Then it makes it all the better when the spring rains come in our life and God pours him self out to us. We then cherish it, and it fills a deeper part of us.

So if we continue to seek him in times of spiritual drought when we almost want to give up, God will quench our need like the spring rains. He will overcome the darkness as sure as the dawn.