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Learn to Hear God’s Voice in the Darkness
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).
“I have learned in darkness what I never would have learned otherwise.” So wrote Dr. Vance Havner following five long months at the bedside of a dear wife whose loveliness was distorted and disfigured by a disease, the name of which he neither could pronounce nor understand. No one would ever choose to go through the long valley of darkness, yet some things come from the crucible of suffering that would never happen apart from facing the fire. A few lines from an unknown poet go, “Many a rapturous minstrel / Among the suns of light, / Will say of his sweetest music, / I learned it in the night.”
In response to a series of programs I did on suffering, a friend wrote, “Dear Dr. Sala… Lately I have been going through some hard times. In my case it has drawn me closer [to the Lord]. Even though it is what I’ve always wanted and sometimes I’m afraid, it seems to work easier or faster when I’m suffering. I don’t like it, but I still end up thanking God because the closeness is what I want most of all….”
When I read those words, I couldn’t help thinking of my friend Paul Shao. Never heard of him? No, I’m not surprised. Paul is an unassuming, very sensitive caring man whose mother happened to be an American missionary married to a Chinese doctor when the Communists took over in China in 1945. Eventually, Paul was arrested because of his faith and sent to prison. For nine long months he was kept in solitary confinement in total darkness. During that period of time he never saw the smile of a baby, the blue of the sky, or the green of the grass. He never heard the laughter of children or felt the warmth of a hot shower. But he did experience something which few in the world know. After his release he wrote to a mutual friend and said that what he missed most were the quiet, intimate moments, the times that he had with Jesus Christ when he was confined.
The greatest lessons of life are learned not in a university classroom but through experiences which we would otherwise ignore, but ones where we are taught by the Holy Spirit and strengthened by the strong hand of God.
Charles Spurgeon, a man who struggled with depression for most of his adult life, was right when he said, “When we cannot trace God’s hand, we can always trust God’s heart.”
A woman who attempted to take her life five times, heard one of my Guidelines’ commentaries and asked for my booklet on suffering. She then wrote, “I am writing to thank you for the wonderful book, Answers to Suffering, that you sent to me. I’ve read it so far three times and though you quoted most of the passages of Scripture, I took my Bible and looked them up just the same…. My illness was allowed so that I would be brought close to God, and even then I didn’t fully realize that Christ, whom I had known and loved as a little girl, would be such a real and utterly fantastic part of being brought to God.”
How do you learn the lessons taught by the hand of God? Sometimes you need to ask, “What is God trying to tell me through all of this? Have I ignored Him or have I really walked with Him day by day?” You need to put life in perspective, understanding it profits a man nothing if he gains the whole world but loses his soul. You need to turn to God—not turn on God—and establish a relationship with the Shepherd that will not only take you through the dark hour but will lead you to heaven’s shore. Jesus said so simply, “Come to me, all you who are weary and [are] burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). It’s still true.
Resource reading: Philippians 3.

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