Dark Pavilions

Psalms 18:1-28 is one of the most powerful examples of God’s might! It has proven to be a favorite of mine for many years….

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Let us return to verse 11 once again for emphasis: “He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.”

Although the chapter continues this account of God’s terrible power, it is interesting to note that he did not set himself up as bright light in the middle of the writer’s storm.

Instead, he becomes a God to be found in the ”darkness of his secret place,” surrounded by ”dark waters.”

This may not seem very comforting when you’re in a trial, to know that God has surrounded himself with dark waters.

In fact, it seems almost paradoxical of Satan’s ploy to appear as an ”angel of light.”

Every sailor fears the dark waters of a storm. It is one of the least predictable times in which the depths can spring forth to overthrow the ship or the ship can unknowingly coast into the abyss of a cyclone or be dashed against the rocks of a reef.

Although it may seem a paradox for God to be a God of life and yet to hide himself in a pavilion of darkness, there are times when God uses darkness for our benefit.

I propose that he is unafraid to be in darkness because often, that is where we are. Would you prefer a God who only works in sunshine? Instead of being perplexed, be comforted that He is God of both sun and shadow, of both good times and bad. And He rules them all!

You see, often when we are experiencing a storm in our lives—be it financial, emotional, physical, relational, or mental—we refer to the day as a dark day or we might say it’s raining in our life right now.

The key is that this is the time of mightiest provision and God is more ‘on the scene’ than even in good times! There is simply more opportunity in our storms to prove Himself miraculous than on our best days!

Perhaps this is why we are instructed to ”look up for your redemption draweth nigh!”(Luke 21:28).

We are further instructed in Proverbs 3:5 to “trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding.”

This is simple during good times because we can reason how god is performing things for our good. It is in tough times, however, that trust is truly developed; it is only by trusting God during the hardest times that your faith is substantiated by His miraculous power in the dark waters!

Faith, Like Film, is Developed in the Dark!

You see, it’s during these times that we reveal who we really are because there are many alternate ways to deal with stress or hardship:

** Some people turn their anger on others, harming innocent people and ruining relationships.

** Others put on a façade that everything is fine, undermining their own feelings and setting themselves up for deeper disappointment. How can anyone know you need help if you won’t admit it?

** These techniques may also be coupled with attempts to escape. We often see these escapes in the form of drugs or alcohol. But there are other non-sinful ways that we can sabotage ourselves in our attempts to escape: shopping to forget one’s cares which results in debt, watching an excessive amount of films to the detriment of our time, or obsessing over non-essentials that leads to obsessive-compulsive habits later on.

** Although these techniques are NOT sinful, they do not bring you any closer to God. Furthermore, they do not resolve the problem but, rather, often cause more problems. They can, in fact, lead to the prolonging of the trial since we’ve run up our credit cards, lost valuable work time, or lost sight of our priorities.

** But a child of God with true faith realizes a storm for what it is: a battleground to test his or her faith in God….and a birthplace for the supernatural! He or she is honest about the fact that he or she is in a storm but realizes that God is ultimately in control! Finally, the person does not try to escape reality but rather embraces the opportunity to know God’s ways better through prayer, Bible reading, and fasting!

You may not fully grasp this point but it is important that we learn to prove ourselves in tough times. As God once asked his servant in Jeremiah 12:5, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”

The bottom line is: You can choose to feel miserable about your situation or you can choose to believe that God is in control and witness the miraculous!

Pass through the dark waters. No, it isn’t easy.

Often, not only are the waves of circumstance buffeting our vessel but there is a gale, a strong wind, making progress difficult.

What are winds? They are conflicting voices, attempting to dissuade us from the faith during our valley of decision!

We are admonished that “we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14).

Never forget that He has a special purpose for your life! Even the hairs of your head are numbered!

Despite the fact that we have “forgotten [him] days without number,” He never forgets or fails to stand beside us!

Please understand, I do not condemn those who suffer in trials today; I’ve often found myself waking up at two or three in the morning, thinking “I was so busy or so upset that I forgot to pray today.” We all must learn, however, that prayer should be our first response!

The Ideal Self Versus The Actual Self

Sometimes our trials simply bring the age-old conflict of the ideal versus the actual to view. You see, often, we experience stress due to the distance we perceive between who we are today and who we want to be.

We all have goals for the future: things we’d like to be doing, things we would like to be, and ways that we think life should be now.

When things are going fine, we can often trace our steps and know that we are making progress toward our goals or ideals.

It is in the storms, however, that people lose sight of their future. The coastline isn’t so clear during a dark night at sea as the waves crash against the sides of the vessel!

It is during these times, however, that the sailor must keep a close watch on his compass!

It’s a lot like a sailor before the compass was even created. During the storm, when he had even lost sight of the stars to guide him, he simply knew he had to keep the vessel afloat. If he could just keep himself and his crew in the ship—even though it seemed he lacked clear direction and didn’t have the ability to steer against the storm—he knew that a brighter day was on its way. And in that brighter day, he would once again be able to gather his bearings and head in the right direction!

Often, our storms can pull us further away from our goals just like storms can draw a vessel further out to sea away from its destination.

It is critical for your survival, however, that you don’t throw in the towel. In those times, we must trust the Lord.

There is a song I used to sing as a girl:

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
When you don’t understand
When you can’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His heart