Beholding God’s Face in the Darkness
It has nearly become a tradition for Christians in our nation and around the world to launch into the new calendar year with a time of prayer and fasting. Many churches even engage in a period of corporate fasting to receive fresh spiritual and strategic vision for the coming year. Then of course, if we are honest we know that fasting provides the added benefit of shedding some of those holiday pounds we may have piled on. Everyone say “Christmas Cookies”!
This year we find ourselves seeking the Lord in the midst of one of the most tumultuous and chaotic times in our nation’s history. The cultural, political, and economic instability has touched all of our lives. As Christians holding a biblical worldview, we recognize the demonic hordes of hell at work attempting to shroud our land with hopelessness, disease, and conflict. Anyone with even the slightest degree of spiritual perception can literally feel the darkness.
In unusual ways I am personally seeing the prevailing oppression even in my own dream life simply because it is “in the air”. The Bible, we know depicts Satan as “the prince of the power of the air, now at work”. (Eph.2:2)
Awaiting the hungry saints, however, is an opportunity to experience the reality of who God is in a way we never have before. He wants to manifest to us His very presence, wants us to know that He is alive, He is working, and He is indeed GOD. This is wonderful to imagine!! He alone can change us, reveal His wisdom and empower us to triumph and even flourish in the very midst of the chaos. There is someone higher in the air, far above the fray and battle of the second heaven and you have a standing invitation to ascend there and be seated with Him. His Name is Jesus!
Yes, as Isaiah warned, gross darkness wants to cover us, but it cannot rival the available covering of the glory of our God over His cherished ones in the earth. In Psalm 13 David pleads with the Lord to know how long his enemies would prevail over him. He was overcome with the affects of the battle raging around him and even in him. But, David knew the secret of true worship and how to sit before the Lord in hopes of experiencing who he knew God to be. He longed to be lifted into a realm where God’s Spirit could prevail over his trembling heart. He channels his distress into this timeless prayer that we need to hijack as ours for 2021!
“Consider and answer me O Lord, my God; lighten the eyes of my faith to behold Your face in the pitch like darkness…Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted, leaned on and have been confident in Your mercy and loving kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits….I will sing to the Lord , because He has dealt bountifully with me!” (Psalm 13 AMP)
Fasting does not make God do something for you that he had no plans on doing unless you gave up your cake. NO! What it does do is position you for a fresh encounter. Like Moses you look away from the barren desert(or dessert) that surrounds you and into the burning heart of the Eternal One who is calling you for such a time as this into greater things. You can begin to trust and be confident, just as David, that God is with you, for you, and will deal bountifully with you as your eyes of faith behold him in the darkness. The light of His face found in His Presence will light your way, lift your defeated heart, and position you for a brand new start.
Here we are, Lord! Shine on!