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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : God's Children Grow in the Dark

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PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 God's Children Grow in the Dark

If God’s ways are not according to human logic, this truth is nowhere more evident than in the way He grows His children in sanctification and wisdom. Saplings sprout upon the earth under direct sunlight and in optimal temperatures, but in contrast to this, God’s children grow in the darkness, at night during times of trial and testing. They are refreshed in the sunlit presence of the Lord with spiritual reprieve and rejuvenation – but they grow in holiness and sanctification in the dark. As seeds germinate beneath the soil in sun-deprived darkness; as the Lord knits babies together in the darkness of their mothers' wombs, so the Lord knits our spiritual bones and substance together in dark wombs of affliction. Did not Samson's hair grow back while He was in darkness? Did not God recapture Jonah's growth in obedience while in the dark belly of a fish? Was it not from the darkness of the wilderness temptations that Jesus came out with the Spirit of the Lord upon Him for ministry? Did not even Almighty God form the universe in the void of created darkness, before the initial command of light?

Look at an earthly child. He eats and plays during the day, when sunlight encompasses his world. But at night, while sleeping, the food he ate miraculously transforms into bone and muscle. It is in the darkness of sleep and in the cocoon of sunless dormancy where his actual growth takes place – and to the extent that when he awakens, he is noticeably taller and his features all the more defined and mature. All parents have observed this bittersweet metamorphosis in their children.

Beloved, God’s children grow in the dark as well. In the dark cocoon of trials and difficulties are their brilliant colors formed, and wings of faith made – wings designed to bring them to God’s throne of grace. This is why we are taught not to despise the chastening and correction of the Lord; this is why we are to embrace His rod, His dark cocoon of flesh-mortification, His molten furnace of tests and trials and temptations. Gold is purified in the melting pot, and it is in the fire where the precious elements of earth gain their worth in the estimation of men. The Christian, likewise, is tempered and seasoned and grown in uncomfortable atmospheres which seem unfruitful for the furtherance of life. But not so according to the divine wisdom of our God. We know our infinitely-wise Father forever seeks the utmost good for His children, and if it means death in the fire or soul-suffocation in a temporal den of failure and misery, then this is where He will lead them.

Remember this the next time you fail. The night cometh; the fire is kindled - and our voluntary suffering in the flesh is God's will for the promotion of Christ's Life in our vessels. The flesh suffers so the precious elements of the spirit can come forth with brilliancy. Yes, enter into God's appointed chamber of growth with weeping and mourning over your own unprofitable resolutions, your myriad of failures, your broken aspirations to please Him. But know that God’s plans for your life are not negated in the least within the cocoon of darkness, but rather forged upon the anvil of suffering. If you trust Him, He will see you though the furnace. He will hold you in His mighty Hand while you sleep, and when the sun at last arises, you will have grown. And your growth will be noticeable to all.

The caterpillar crawls into the bonds of the cocoon only to one day fly away in the light of liberation and beauty. The worm's means of freedom grew while he slept in the darkness, and yours will as well. Allow God keep you in the lair of darkness to bring you into glorious knowledge of the liberty of grace. His plan for your life is to adorn you in the beauty of Christ; to mint you with His life, and to impart His divine nature in you to such a degree that you might fly above all the darkness of sin and bondage of the earth's pull.



Brother Paul

http://understandingmortification.wordpress.com/


_________________
Paul Frederick West

 2012/10/30 23:15Profile









 Re: God's Children Grow in the Dark

Yes indeed brother. Children of God are hardened and tempered in the fires of life. I think of the tree in the midst of winter. Stripped bare of every foliage. The coverings removed and the tree now transparant and totally visible. All of the sap now surges through the trunk and the branches and the tree grows taller and the roots grow deeper.........bro Frank

 2012/10/30 23:57
ET101
Member



Joined: 2010/10/26
Posts: 240


 Re: God's Children Grow in the Dark

Thank you so much for this post, Paul.

I want to draw attention to four words in your post:

'If you trust Him. . .'

These are such important words.

We must trust Him. It seems to me - maybe someone else wants to elaborate on it - that there are certain 'progress-limiting' attitudes that can hold us back in our journey with Christ. Unbelief is one. . .bitterness is another. . .there are many. . .beware of them and be sure to collaborate with God by obeying Him to the letter.

 2012/10/31 2:45Profile









 Re: God's Children Grow in the Dark

The Title alone convinced me that this was going to be a good read as I KNOW that to be true.

 2012/10/31 9:20





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