Discoveries in the Darkness

by Buddy Maynard
(Panama City, Florida)

Psalms 18:1-11 Discoveries in the Darkness

Darkness is Bad ---- to a lost man.

Psalms 35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
Psalms 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
Darkness is not Bad Necessarily ----to a saved man
Psalms 112:4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
Psalms 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Darkness does not mean that light is absent, but lessened. Darkness is in degrees as to the amount that light is absent. Light is not the absence of darkness, either, but just the weakening of it. Objects that block the light create darkness – shadows…
God’s light is always there….things/sin just block his light.

What We Can See in the Darkness? When You can’t see to good!! Don’t be afraid of the dark. The darker the night, the brighter the light. The brightest star cannot be seen in the day, but can be seen best in the darkest of night.

Discoveries Found in the Darkness:

1. The Provision of God –

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
John 1:1-9 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2. The Plan of God –

Psalms 105:28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.
2 Samuel 22:29 For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
Psalms 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

3. The Purpose of God

Isaiah 50:10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

4. The Protection of God

Psalms 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

An aged lady left Buffalo by boat for Cleveland to visit a daughter living there. Soon a dreadful storm arose and many of the passengers, fearing death, gathered for prayer. Only the aged lady seemed unconcerned about the tempest as she sat with her hands folded and prayed. After the storm had subsided, some of the passengers were eager to know the secret of her calmness. They gathered around her and asked her the reason.

"Well, my dear friends," she replied, "it is like this. I have two daughters. One died and went home to heaven. The other lives in Cleveland. When the storm arose, I wondered which of them I might visit first, the one in Cleveland or the one in heaven, and I just left it to the Lord; for I would be glad to see either."

Darkness is not gone, Jesus has just given us light in the darkness. Death may not be gone, but Jesus took the sting of it away.
And that is just what Jesus did for us: He took the sting of death for us, and now that sting is gone. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin . . . But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

5. The Presence of God –

1 Kings 8:12 Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Psalms 18:9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
Psalms 97:2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

6. The Prayers to God

Psalms 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Psalms 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

7. The Peace of God

2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Romans 8:24-28 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was one of America's great preachers. He lost his first wife to cancer when she was in her thirties. This left him with three children under the age of twelve. He chose to preach the funeral for his wife but wondered what he would say. His thoughts came together on the way to her funeral.

A large truck passed them on the road and cast a shadow over their car. He turned to his oldest daughter and asked, "Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?" The broken little girl looked curiously at her father and said, "By the shadow, I guess. It can't hurt you."

The wise minister quietly told his three children, "Your mother has not been overrun by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear." Although death usually feels like a truck running over your heart, in reality, the death of a believer can bring nothing more than a painful shadow. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4).

* Facing Death and the Life After, Billy Graham, 1987, p. 93-94