Deuteronomy 8:3 New International Version (NIV)
3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The long screeching sounds did not allow my mind to rest. Over and over the sounds in the darkness would not let me find peace. I sat up in my bed and watched the shadows move across my window. My mind started to imagine what kinds of evil were just beyond my walls.
Darkness and imagination can challenge what you know to be true. As a child planted in the soil just below my window was a rosebush. On windy nights it would slowly blow from side to side across my window. In the light of day it never struck fear into me but in the darkness, the shadows and sounds would challenge the known and replace it with fear.
V. Raymond Edman words provide insight into fears, faith, and truth.
“Never doubt in the DARK what God told you in the LIGHT.”
― V. Raymond Edman
As a child I knew in the light a rosebush was just outside my window but in the darkness, my fears challenged the known and replaced it with doubt. We do the same. We trust God when times are good but when darkness enters our lives, fear can challenge what we know to be true.
The same issue happened to the people of Israel. They trusted God as he parted the Red Sea but they later would be challenged in difficult times. For forty years God’s people wandered in the desert. God promised to provide them food in the form of manna but they were told to take only what they needed for today and not store up any of the food. They had to trust that God would keep his promise and provide for them each day. Each day provided a unique unknown. Would God provide?
The Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:11 states, “Give us today our daily bread” and in John 6:48 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life”. Just as the people of Israel faced unknowns about food and needed to trust God to provide, we also need to trust that Jesus provides what we need for each day.
During these challenging days of the COVID-19 I have repeated the words trust and adjust. I have trusted my school district as they promised that they were making plans to help us and then I needed to adjust to the reality that they provided. Man is fallible. When we trust in others we must place our trust in them and adjust if they let us down. God is infallible. We must trust Him and adjust to the situation He has placed us in. This may include resetting our expectations of what your future looks like, charting a new course, and trusting in the darkness. Today we face many unknowns. Whether it is mourning the loss of a child, facing a pandemic, or other challenges, darkness can promote fear and doubt. Don’t doubt in the darkness but instead remember what you have known in the light. The words of Corrie Ten Bloom summed up this idea well.
“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”
― Corrie Ten Boom
