Isaiah 45:3 “I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
Jeremiah15:18-19 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.
In a lot of ways these two verses separate those who live consistently free and those who don’t. It is easy to walk in the Spirit and to live by faith when there is no pain and no disappointments. People who live a truly, “Life on the Highest Plane” kind of life are those who have learned to find Christ in the most difficult and painful places.
We live in a fallen world and, as a result, painful things happen. We have no control over that. If we can’t see goodness in these places and find Christ there, we will live a large portion of our lives in despair, depression, or bitterness. All of those hard places represent opportunity; an opportunity for the enemy of our souls to kill, steal, and destroy, or an opportunity for us to discover hidden treasures embedded in the darkness that can transform our lives and identify the ministries Christ has called us to.
As I have shared, through my own mental illness (mental illness is a genuine dark place), I discovered the most precious things I have ever learned. In that seemingly worthless place called mental illness, I was able to extract precious treasures that changed my life forever. That was years ago and those treasures that were extracted from that horrible place still direct and dominate my every thought and action. I wouldn’t trade that dark place for anything. I can say with David, “Surely the lines have fallen to me in beautiful places.”
If you are in a dark place that just seems to have no obvious value, then hopefully I will be able to help you extract the precious from that worthless and discover the treasures that are hidden in the darkness.
Have a great day In Christ knowing that even the darkness serves you.