The first and best place to start is that such desertions occur out of the sovereignty of God. He is infinitely sovereign and ‘His ways are not our ways’ and ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him’? The ultimate end God’s workings are so high above us that we will never be able to comprehend the reasoning behind God’s actions. According to His own counsel He has purposed at times to withdraw His felt presence. Our focus should not be so much on the ‘why’, but the ‘who’- as in who is God and who am I in the midst of this time of life.
Perhaps the best summary of this desertion and God’s sovereignty is from Robert Asty in his book, Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus in all Cases and Conditions:
“The Lord is pleased to act as a Sovereign in the sealing and assuring and comforting of his people. Sometimes he will come in upon a believer at his first conversion, and will fill him with joy and gladness that shall abide upon his soul many years; and sometimes the believer shall wait upon God from ordinance to ordinance, and follow him many years in the dark, and not have a discovery of his love. Sometimes the Lord will give a soul no sight of its interest, nor evidence of its relation, until it come to die; and some believers have walked with the evidence of God’s love in their hearts almost all their days, and when they have come to die, they have died in the dark. Sense of interest is under a sovereign dispensation, both as to the persons to whom it is given out, and as to time when, and as to the way and manner how.”
The second reason why the experience of desertion visits us is to “show us the source of all our comforts, and our dependence upon him for them.” We are not to get caught up in the blessing at the expense of the Giver of the blessing. Acts of obedience and godliness are right, but they should not be done to elicit an automatic response of blessing for the sake of blessing. God’s grace is free and it is given at His discretion alone. God’s occasional withdrawal is to remind us that as wonderful as prayer, and worship, and obedience are, our ultimate peace, comfort, assurance, and satisfaction must come from God alone and not from the things done in relationship to God. Any encouragement that comes from elsewhere is not an encouragement in God himself. God, as our tender Father, will not have us to find comfort and satisfaction in the good graces more than in Him. When this happens, He may allow a certain sense of darkness to come over us so that we find ultimate comfort in Him, and not in the experiences that occur about Him.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Dark Night of the Soul- part 2 of 6
It is apparent from the writings of the Puritans, and gleaning from the Scriptures that spiritual desertion is real. From our perspective, it stands in contradistinction of the popular gospel preached today, which promises ease of living and avoidance of pain. The Puritans were not afraid to publicly write and pronounce that it was quite possible and even probable that the child of God, walking holy and upright before God, may at some point in his life experience a sense of desertion.
The question we would ask here is, why’? It is the question that Jesus asked on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It is the question we most frequently ask in the midst of life. Why would God invite us to call Him, Father, and then at times in our relationship allow us to feel this sense of desertion?
The Puritans believed that some desertions were the result of the direct action of God. However, they were careful to point out that while God may be the chief cause of the condition, He was not cause of those associated features, such as fear and doubt. Often, we must admit that we do not ultimately know the causes of God’s withdrawal. The reasons are many and varied. However, as William Bridge said in answer to the question of why, “In general, it is for their good. For their good they have peace and comfort, and for their good they lack peace and comfort.” The Puritans placed the reasons for the desertion in seven general categories, which we will review in parts 3 - 6.
The question we would ask here is, why’? It is the question that Jesus asked on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It is the question we most frequently ask in the midst of life. Why would God invite us to call Him, Father, and then at times in our relationship allow us to feel this sense of desertion?
The Puritans believed that some desertions were the result of the direct action of God. However, they were careful to point out that while God may be the chief cause of the condition, He was not cause of those associated features, such as fear and doubt. Often, we must admit that we do not ultimately know the causes of God’s withdrawal. The reasons are many and varied. However, as William Bridge said in answer to the question of why, “In general, it is for their good. For their good they have peace and comfort, and for their good they lack peace and comfort.” The Puritans placed the reasons for the desertion in seven general categories, which we will review in parts 3 - 6.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Dark Night of the Soul- part 1 of 6
The Dark Night of the Soul
The ‘dark night of the soul’ was a common phrase in Puritan thought describing a sense of spiritual desertion experienced by the believer in relationship to God. This sense was not abandonment by God, but rather a lack of the sense of His presence in love, grace, mercy, fellowship, and power. This lack was not necessarily attributable to the believer being in a backslidden condition.
Thomas Goodwin wrote, “That one who truly fears God, and is obedient to him, may be in a condition of darkness and have no light; and he may walk many years in that condition.”
Numerous Puritan pastors wrote on this subject, referencing such scriptures as Job 13, 16, 19, 31; Psalm 77, and Psalm 88. A description of this condition comes from the pen of Christopher Love. In Love’s book, Grace, the Truth and Growth and Different Degrees Thereof, he writes:
“A child of light may walk in darkness for a time, and though he have the Holy Ghost working grace and increasing grace in his heart, yet he may want the oil of gladness, though he have received a precious anointing of grace.”
A lack of the sense of God’s presence is the most prominent form of spiritual desertion, and is best described as an extreme isolation and desolated state. John Wells graphically illustrates this condition:
“So it is with a gracious soul: wife is nothing, children nothing, estate nothing,
friends nothing, all nothing when Christ is gone. What have I more, says a poor believer? Christ is gone…all is gone, faith gone, aye, and heaven gone too in his thoughts, and what are all his enjoyments then but dross and dogs-meat, but trash and lumber?”
The second form of desertion is a weakness in the exercise of spiritual graces. It does not begin with a willful intent to cast aside spiritual graces and abilities, but rather finds itself in such a state of discouragement and despair that ultimately the soul refuses to participate in its duties. In Jeremiah 20:7-9 we find that though Jeremiah was commissioned to preach, he nonetheless refused to do so. Richard Sibbes has described the condition in such a manner:
“They find not that former assistance in holy duties…they find that their hearts are shut up, and they cannot pray as formerly when they had the Spirit of God more fully; …This is first done when we hear the Word of God not with that delight and profit as we were wont. When they find how they come near to God in holy communion, and yet feel not that sweet taste and relish in the ordinance of God as they were wont to do, they conclude, certainly God hath hid his face.”
The third element is rather peculiar in that it is described as refusing comfort on the midst of pain and discouragement. So overwhelmed is this person that they question the very genuineness of God’s past and present graces, and therefore doubt the very comfort that God brings in the midst of their current depression. In Psalm 77:2, we see this refusal of comfort when Asaph writes, “My soul refused to be comforted.” Thomas Goodwin in commenting on this refusal writes:
“Graces in us shine but with a borrowed light, as the stars do, with a light borrowed from the sun; so, and unless God will shine secretly, and give light to thy graces and irradiate them, thy graces will not appear to comfort thee, nor be at all a witness of God’s favour to assure thee. For our spirit, that is, our graces, never witness alone; but if God’s Spirit joineth not in testimony therewith, it is silent: ‘The Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits,’ Rom.8:16. Now therefore, when God hath withdrawn his testimony, then the testimony of our hearts and of our graces hath no force in it.”
The last description of spiritual desertion is a lack of assurance and a certain overwhelming fear of the future. The soul has no assurance of its salvation and doubts of its entrance into heaven or whether such a place exists (Psalm 77:7-9; 88:5, 6, 11, 12). Fear fills the mind with such intensity that there is severe doubt regarding mercy or what God intends to do with the person. On this element, William Bridge writes:
“Oh, says one, but I have not only cursed the day of my birth as Jeremiah, and
wished I had never been born; but I am weary of life, and have sought after mine
own death: and was there any godly, gracious man that was thus discouraged and
cast down? Yes! What think you of Job?... Oh, what a mighty deep of discouragements may the saints and people of God fall into, and yet be godly and gracious.”
The ‘dark night of the soul’ was a common phrase in Puritan thought describing a sense of spiritual desertion experienced by the believer in relationship to God. This sense was not abandonment by God, but rather a lack of the sense of His presence in love, grace, mercy, fellowship, and power. This lack was not necessarily attributable to the believer being in a backslidden condition.
Thomas Goodwin wrote, “That one who truly fears God, and is obedient to him, may be in a condition of darkness and have no light; and he may walk many years in that condition.”
Numerous Puritan pastors wrote on this subject, referencing such scriptures as Job 13, 16, 19, 31; Psalm 77, and Psalm 88. A description of this condition comes from the pen of Christopher Love. In Love’s book, Grace, the Truth and Growth and Different Degrees Thereof, he writes:
“A child of light may walk in darkness for a time, and though he have the Holy Ghost working grace and increasing grace in his heart, yet he may want the oil of gladness, though he have received a precious anointing of grace.”
A lack of the sense of God’s presence is the most prominent form of spiritual desertion, and is best described as an extreme isolation and desolated state. John Wells graphically illustrates this condition:
“So it is with a gracious soul: wife is nothing, children nothing, estate nothing,
friends nothing, all nothing when Christ is gone. What have I more, says a poor believer? Christ is gone…all is gone, faith gone, aye, and heaven gone too in his thoughts, and what are all his enjoyments then but dross and dogs-meat, but trash and lumber?”
The second form of desertion is a weakness in the exercise of spiritual graces. It does not begin with a willful intent to cast aside spiritual graces and abilities, but rather finds itself in such a state of discouragement and despair that ultimately the soul refuses to participate in its duties. In Jeremiah 20:7-9 we find that though Jeremiah was commissioned to preach, he nonetheless refused to do so. Richard Sibbes has described the condition in such a manner:
“They find not that former assistance in holy duties…they find that their hearts are shut up, and they cannot pray as formerly when they had the Spirit of God more fully; …This is first done when we hear the Word of God not with that delight and profit as we were wont. When they find how they come near to God in holy communion, and yet feel not that sweet taste and relish in the ordinance of God as they were wont to do, they conclude, certainly God hath hid his face.”
The third element is rather peculiar in that it is described as refusing comfort on the midst of pain and discouragement. So overwhelmed is this person that they question the very genuineness of God’s past and present graces, and therefore doubt the very comfort that God brings in the midst of their current depression. In Psalm 77:2, we see this refusal of comfort when Asaph writes, “My soul refused to be comforted.” Thomas Goodwin in commenting on this refusal writes:
“Graces in us shine but with a borrowed light, as the stars do, with a light borrowed from the sun; so, and unless God will shine secretly, and give light to thy graces and irradiate them, thy graces will not appear to comfort thee, nor be at all a witness of God’s favour to assure thee. For our spirit, that is, our graces, never witness alone; but if God’s Spirit joineth not in testimony therewith, it is silent: ‘The Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits,’ Rom.8:16. Now therefore, when God hath withdrawn his testimony, then the testimony of our hearts and of our graces hath no force in it.”
The last description of spiritual desertion is a lack of assurance and a certain overwhelming fear of the future. The soul has no assurance of its salvation and doubts of its entrance into heaven or whether such a place exists (Psalm 77:7-9; 88:5, 6, 11, 12). Fear fills the mind with such intensity that there is severe doubt regarding mercy or what God intends to do with the person. On this element, William Bridge writes:
“Oh, says one, but I have not only cursed the day of my birth as Jeremiah, and
wished I had never been born; but I am weary of life, and have sought after mine
own death: and was there any godly, gracious man that was thus discouraged and
cast down? Yes! What think you of Job?... Oh, what a mighty deep of discouragements may the saints and people of God fall into, and yet be godly and gracious.”
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