Walking with God Through the Dark Times

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, walking with God through the dark times. We all have walked through those dark times in our lives, things we don't understand. And oftentimes, there are things we don't understand, why they happen and why they happen and when they happen. Times we feel overwhelmed, don't understand what's going on. Times we just want to give up and quit. Times when we feel like everything seems to be hopeless and we feel so helpless. It may be that those dark times come with something financial, something that's continually a burden in your life. Or it may be because the marriage breaks up and it's a time of dread, darkness in your life. Or it could be grief over your children for something that's going on in their life. Maybe you've lost your job. Maybe it's a time of ill health and it just goes on and on and on. Maybe your fondest dreams have been dashed and the future looks so gloomy. All of us are going to go through dark times in our life. We won't always understand why. Sometimes they're going to be short-lived. Sometimes they're going to be prolonged and we do not understand why God doesn't stop it even now. But even though that happens, there's a way for us to respond. And God has given to us in His Word the principles by which you are not to operate in every single circumstance of life, no matter what it is. And when we talk about walking through darkness, I want to be sure we understand something. And that is that it's one thing to walk in darkness. It's something else to walk through darkness. Now the Scripture says, for example, in Colossians chapter 1, Paul is talking about our relationship to Christ and where we are in that relationship. And here's what he says in this first chapter.

He says, we know, for example, that He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His dear Son so that we as believers, in Colossians 113, we as believers do not live in darkness. We may walk through dark times. So there's a difference in walking through dark times, which are those times of difficulty and hardship and pain in our life, and not walking in a life of sin. For example, he says in 1 John chapter 1, listen to what he says. He says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. So we're not talking about living in darkness. We're not talking about walking in darkness as a sinful situation, but through those dark times in our life. And that's what I want to talk about in this message entitled, Walking with God Through the Dark Times. And somebody, you may say, oh, my goodness, I've been there. Well, what did you do when you were there? And you may say, well, that's where I am now. Well, what are you doing and how are you responding in these dark times in your life? And so when you look at the scriptures and people ask, well, what about all these stories in the Bible? They're not just stories. They are events that took place. Well, you say, well, why did God put them all there? Why didn't He just give us something brief that we could understand? Because God wanted us to understand this. The situations and the circumstances that you and I face in life have been faced before. And as we look at the account of how God worked in the lives of His children in the past, we discover the principles by which God worked and by which they lived them out.

And we see how we can live them out today, though our circumstances in the dark times are not the same. They may have similarities. The principles work no matter what. And so I want to choose the life of Joseph, for example, and you may turn to the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis, because it's interesting that though he was not the most important one of Jacob's sons, that thirty-seven through fiftieth chapters of the book of Genesis is all about the life of Joseph. And he's a perfect example for us to look at and examine and see how God helped him walk through a long period of darkness. And so wherever you are, whatever's going on in your life, and right now things seem gloomy and not just a little bit dark, but you say, man, in my life, it's like midnight. I don't understand what's going on. I don't understand why. I don't understand why God is allowing these things. I don't understand the loss of my loved one. I don't understand what's happened in my marriage. I don't understand where my finances are, where they are. I don't understand why my children are acting the way they're acting. And this is a very dark time. I'm in my life. What I want you to see in this passage is this. In these chapters, there are six principles. I want to ask you concerning these six principles that you write them down. You may not even be a Christian, that's okay. Write them down anyway, because I can guarantee you, you are either in a dark season of your life, you are either going to go through one, you have been through them, and no matter what,

we all go through them because that's just life. We go through trying, difficult, hard times, which we call times of darkness. So I want to read these first four verses to give us a little background, a little capsule about Joseph's life, because some of you will say, well, who is Joseph? And I can tell you all about him in just about a couple of minutes. But listen to these verses beginning in the 37th chapter. Now, Jacob, one of God's chosen servants, lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob, and so he tells us about that. And so here's what he says. Joseph, one of his sons, when 17 years of age was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now, Israel, that is Jacob's other name, loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and they made him a very colored tunic, which you heard about the many colored, colors of Joseph's particular robe that his father made for him, very special one, coat of many colors, we called it.

His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. So let me give you a little idea who he is. Joseph is the youngest son of Jacob, Abraham Isaac Jacob, God's genealogical line. And so his brothers hate him, and the Bible says several times how much they hate him, because he is the protected one. And so when he goes out and brings back his father's report, it was a bad report, and so they see him as a tattletale. Then he had these dreams. One of these dreams was these sheaves, each one representing his brother, and they were all bowing down to his sheaf, which was in the center, that made him that much more angry. Then he talked about this dream of the sun and the moon bowing down to his sheaf. And so the Bible says they hated him because of his attitude. They thought he was prideful and egotistical and cocky. And so what happens, his father sends him to check up on him. They see him coming and they say, here comes that dreamer. They decided to kill him. Finally, Judah, the most important brother of all in the genealogical line, Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, he says, he's our brother, we must not kill him. And so here comes a caravan. They said, so let's, okay, we won't kill him.

We'll just sell him. So they sell him to a caravan, takes him down to Egypt, and he's bought on the slave block to, bought by Potiphar, who is the captain of the guard of Pharaoh brings him into his household. He's doing fantastic. His wife tries to seduce him. And so he's thrown into jail and there he is for a season of time. Pharaoh has a couple of dreams and Joseph interprets the dream. And he ends up after this prolonged period of darkness as the prime minister of Egypt. With that in mind, what I want to do is to lay down six very, very valuable principles that all of us need to remember when we go through those dark times. That's times we don't understand, hurt, pain, suffering. Oftentimes maybe accusations, whatever it may be, whatever we're going through, there are dark times in our life. And so I want you to look at the life of Joseph and apply it to our own life. Somebody says, but I'm not Joseph. Now watch this. The principles are here, not because we'll repeat the same circumstance, but we will need the same principles. So here's the first one. I want you to be sure to get them jotted down now.

The first one is this. That is God is with us in our dark times. This is the foundational principle. God is with us in our dark times. And what I want you to see is how he was with Joseph. First of all, his brothers were going to kill him. God was with him. He spoke to Reuben and then he also spoke to Judah. And instead of killing him, they sold him into Egyptian bondage. Well, he was with him again. Potiphar purchases him as a slave. And so in doing so, here's what happens. The scripture tells us how God worked in his life in the 39th chapter. The scripture says, now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar. Egyptian officer Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. Now, his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, became his personal servant, made him an overseer of the house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph, thus the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, and within there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.

So now he's the absolute total administrator of everything that Potiphar owns. But here's what happens. The Scripture says that his wife looked with desire at Joseph and said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to the master's wife, Behold with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. He's put all he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he's withheld nothing from me except you because you're his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? And so the Scripture says, And she spoke to Joseph day after day, didn't listen to her. She frames him. And so when Potiphar discovers it, naturally he throws him in prison. So now he's in prison. Well he was with him all throughout the time he was in Potiphar's household. Now that he's in prison, listen to this thirty-ninth chapter and the nineteenth verse, Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, This is what your slave did to me, his anger burned. Now Joseph's master took him, put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer, and the chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail, so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper. Now here's a perfect example. When we go through difficult times, those dark times in our life, you can, listen, you can rest on this truth, that even as God was with Joseph, He's going to be with you. Does He not say in that thirteenth chapter of Hebrews, verse five, He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

I will not abandon you in any situation, any circumstance, at any time. He says, I'm going to be with you. And turn, if you will, to the 139th Psalm, and notice, if you will, in this passage, a familiar passage of Scripture, and listen to what God says in this particular passage. He says, for example, as the psalmist is asking, beginning in verse seven, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? And the answer is nowhere. And then He says in verse 11 of the same 139th Psalm, if I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness, listen, even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are like to you. Therefore, no matter what you and I go through, there is no physical darkness in God's eyes as far as He not being able to see. And when you and I walk through dark seasons of our life, God sees every single event and every single part of it. So that the basic bottom line principle when you and I are walking through the dark times, no matter how dark, no matter who caused it, no matter what the source is, the basic bottom line principle is this, God is with me in this darkness. And as a child of God, you have the right, you have the authority, listen, the privilege, the anticipation, the expectation. You can have absolute confidence in this, that no matter what you're facing in life, God is going to be with you in that. Now you say, but I'm not even a Christian, then cancel everything I said. Because the promise of God with you, when you have rejected His Son, Jesus Christ, when you have spurned the work of the Holy Spirit, who's trying to convict you and show you how much God loves you, when you have turned your back upon His Son, Jesus Christ, you do not have the privilege, listen, you do not have the privilege of claiming God's presence in your life.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art with me. How, listen, how do you develop a relationship with God? We all came into this world as sinners, listen, we violated the principles of the Word of God, we disobeyed God, we rebelled against God, we are separated from God, and now, what is it that brings sinner and holy God together? One thing, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ, the shedding of His blood at Calvary, makes it possible for me to cry to this holy God, asking Him to forgive me of my sins. And the moment He does, what happens? I am saved by His grace. He comes to, listen, to live on the inside of us, to abide in us. And now we have the living God living within us to take us through every single dark season of our life. That is, listen, that's the unwavering, unfaltering, eternal promise of every single child of the living God. Basic principle, God is with me in this darkness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, the second principle is this, and that is that God has a purpose for allowing these dark times in our lives. You say, well, but you know what I'm going through doesn't make any difference. If you're a child of God, God has a very specific purpose for allowing whatever darkness you're going through in your life.

Look at Joseph's life, for example. This is why we come back to Romans 8, 28, over and over again. God causes all things to work together for good. And what happens is when it's dark and we can't see the good, we say, well, I know that verse. I know it's in the Bible, but my circumstance doesn't make any difference. What circumstance we have, God is going, listen, He has a purpose in our life, allowing these things to happen. And that purpose could be one of many things. And certainly here, a very definite purpose in the life of Joseph. And that is God was preparing him, listen, for a place of service. There was to be an awesome place of service because the truth is in human terms, he was acting as savior, savior of his family by bringing them down. Savior of the whole civilization of Egypt because seven long years of famine, had there been no preparation, people would have died by the thousands and thousands and thousands. And so what appeared to be an evil act on the part of his brothers became, listen, an act of salvation in the eyes of God. So now, look what you're going through in your life. It's a period of darkness.

You're going through some situation, some circumstance, you don't like it, it's painful, you wanna get out, you'd walk out today if you could, you do whatever's necessary to get out of this circumstance. Remember this, if God has allowed you to be there, He's allowed you with a purpose in mind. You say, but what purpose could it be? You know what, he asked the same thing, I'm sure many times. What's the purpose of making me a slave in part of a household? What's the purpose in having somebody try to seduce me and I live up to your faithfulness, God, and now the reason here I am in jail for being faithful to you, God, what could you possibly have in mind? And then the butler and the baker who also had dreams and Joseph interpreted the dreams and said to the butler, now, when you go before Pharaoh, he let him go and remember me, tell him that, he says, because I wanna get out of this dungeon, that's what he says. And so what happens, he forgets him, but two long years he forgot him. So how many times do you suppose Joseph must have asked, God, what are you up to? Why have you allowed this? 13 years of darkness, day after day, week after week, month after month, nobody there to love him,

nobody to care for him, his family is up there somewhere out yonder in Canaan, he has no idea what all this is about. And you see, this is where our real character comes forth. Am I willing to trust God when I cannot see my way clear? And the only thing I have is what I believe because there's nothing around me that says, God is loving me at this time. And so the principle is simply this, God has a purpose in it all. The third principle I want you to notice is this, and that is, listen, the darkness will last as long as it's necessary for God to accomplish his purpose. Somebody says, well, how long is this gonna last? As long as it's necessary for God to accomplish his purpose. Now, all of us would like to face some bad situation, some darkness in our life, get on our knees and say, Father, here's what you said. If we ask anything in your name that you will do it. I'm asking right now to remove this darkness. Thank you in Jesus' name. I'm just refusing this, ignoring this. I'm just gonna thank you for your answer right now. And you know what happens? It just gets darker. It just gets darker. You say, well, God, I thought you answered prayer. He does. But you see, what we have to ask is what's God's purpose? Now, I want you to watch this in his life

because there will be similarities of things in your life, not the same situation, but the principles are the same. So ask ourselves the question, in these 13 years, what was God's purpose? Because why did he leave him here this long? Well, think about what he was going to do. God knew, now watch this carefully. Very important you watch this. If you and I could look down through the darkness and look down throughout life in the future and we could see. What God sees that He is doing in our life, and what He's going to do, if we could see through the darkness and see on the other side of the darkness what He had in mind, you know what you and I'd say? We'd say, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Because I want to tell you something, I've lived long enough to know, and have been through enough dark times in my life that every single solitary time, I acted just like everybody else at times. God, what are you up to? Why don't we get over this? Let's move on. You know what I have to do. You know what? He didn't say a word.

Absolute dead silence. Watch this. I've lived long enough to know that every single solitary time, when I got through that period of darkness, I could look back and think, oh, now I see what you're up to. I understand what you're doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Do I want to go back through it again? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Am I grateful he brought me through it? Absolutely yes. Am I grateful what I learned? Yes, indeed. Do I want to go back through it again? No, no, no. God has a purpose. Now watch this. He's going to make Joseph second in command so that in these years, what is God doing? God is preparing him to do what? To be the prime minister of Egypt. And what's important? That he learned every single one of these things. He had to learn the customs and the language. He had to learn, besides that, what's he doing? He's learning to be an administrator in Potiphar's household, now in the jailhouse.

He's learning to be an organizer. He's learning to live under authority. And he's learning to be the right kind of authority. In God's eyes, what is he doing? Getting him ready for this awesome place of service. And oftentimes, we just want to rush through the bad times. I do, just like you do. We're going to rush through them and get on with something better. But you know what? God knows what he wants to do with your life. And so, listen, watch this. All the dark times you've been through have been preparation. If you've responded correctly. Preparation. And there have been times of progress in your life that you didn't even understand. And Joseph didn't understand it. He could never have foretold what was going to happen. That's why the principles are so very important. And that is, listen, God is working a purpose in our life. Then think about this. We think about all these principles. And the fourth one is this. We learn more in the dark than we do in the light. We learn more in the dark, in the darkness, than we do in the light. Think about what Joseph learned. I think one of the things he learned was probably a little more appreciation for his family

than he had before, because he sort of had everything going his way. He probably began to realize that one of the reasons his brothers may have hated him so much is that he was his father's number one choice, and he probably may possibly have taken advantage of that. And so, when we talk about learning more in the darkness than we do in the light, I think about probably he learned a lot of things. He learned how faithful God was to him in all the situation. He learned that even in his darkest moments, God kept revealing his presence and kept elevating him no matter where he was. He certainly realized and learned in this period of time that he had skills and gifts. For example, he had skills and gifts in the area of administration and service that he would never have known in his father's household when everything was just catered to him and his father favored him. He'd have never understood that till he got in a situation where he had to. He was forced to. And so, he learned a great deal about himself. And he certainly learned, listen, he certainly learned where he was morally. Because when he was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he learned by his refusal to say yes to her. He learned that he had a quality,

a basic godly divine morality that tempted, and that, listen, that probably the greatest temptation of his life, he was able to say no and walk away. He learned a lot of things about himself. But look where he learned them. He learned them in the darkness. Then, listen, listen, even in the dark times, we are walking toward the light. That is a basic principle. Even in the dark times, we are walking toward the light. Now, look at Joseph's life, for example. When he was up there with his family, he was walking toward the light. When he was thrown to the pit, he was still moving toward the light. When he was in Potiphar's household as a slave and a servant, he was still in the light. When he was falsely accused, still moving in the light. When he was in prison, he was still in the light. See, listen, don't underestimate what God wants to do in your life. You're always moving to the light. You see, if Listen if my focus is upon him. He's always moved me to the light and even in the darkest moments. It's dark to me It's not dark to him and listen you hear people say I don't see any light at the end of the tongue You're not you're looking in the wrong direction. The Bible doesn't say look down the tunnel. You look you listen You keep your focus on him Don't look back. Who did it? Why did it happen? Why am I here? What could I have done different?

You get your focus on God. It's in listen. It's in those dark times. We learn the most it's in those dark times We to keep our focus upon him because he's always moving us toward the light and how many times have you heard me say? The best is yet to be for every single child of God no matter what's going on You say well, I'm sick and I'm probably gonna die within 30 days The best is still yet to be you're gonna listen you're going to heaven and you can't beat that So anywhere we are in life God is always leading us to the light now. Listen if I refuse to follow the light that's in front of me I'm gonna stay in the darkness. He said well how much lights God gonna give us? I can tell you how much he's gonna give you no matter who you are one step at a time Not even one day at a time But one step at a time what we don't realize is listen Oftentimes we hit forks in the road in our life in a given day that God wants to use you in ways that you never even dreamed of Wants to impact somebody's life that you that you didn't even think they were looking at you or watching you or whatever it may be He's always moving us toward the light But if I've shut my eyes to God's will and his plan and I'm gonna do it my way, you know, what happens? I'm gonna run around in the circles in darkness until I'm willing to say, okay God, I'm gonna focus on you I'm gonna trust you because here's what you said. You said I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's what you said I'm trusting you. I'm believing you for you cannot violate your own command and still be God. Amen Therefore I know that you're with me in this that I am learning that you're I am progressing I am moving to the light. You're all accomplishing a purpose. You've got something specific in mind in my life You keep your focus on God, and you know what? There's always a ray just in front of you to know exactly Where to step next because God is leading you to the light then I would give you just one more principle think about this What we learn in the darkness we to share in the light What we learn in the darkness we to share in the light. I'm talking about being listen being sensitive being available to people around you who are walking in darkness and walking through darkness and don't understand and and and and they're just throwing out hints and these hints are just saying I mean I need help somebody help me. Are you available to Almighty God to share what you've learned in the darkness? And I want to challenge you all I've done is just said look, you know what?

I want to help you become an awesome tool in the hand of God To help other people who are walking through darkness and yet for many of you you're saying, you know what? Not for somebody else but for me because you're in the darkness and maybe you're one of those persons who's lost your loved one And it all looks dark to you right now Or something's happened to your children. It all looks darkness Or fizzing the material you've lost it all everything looks dark or the doctors come in and said I've hate to say this to you I'm sorry to have to tell you this and everything looks dark God's awesome eternal everlasting precious word Will turn those moments of darkness into absolute brilliant radiant light If you will simply read it Trust him to be who he is He'll turn your darkness into light. I want to read one last passage of Scripture here and that's Job chapter 23 and I want you to turn to and I want you to I'm gonna give you time to find a job chapter 23. Listen to this verse because here's what God has in mind Job chapter 23. Here's what God has in mind for you. No matter who you are Job 23 verse 10 But he knows the way I take When he has tried me I shall come forth as a gold What is he doing? polishing shining Repairing us That because we've walked through the darkness. We're gonna have some other folks walk right through it Triumphantly and come out shining just like gold You