In the series that started with Light and Dark – A Pattern to Explore we studied the idea that God may start with darkness and then reveal light. There is much written in the Bible on the topic of light and dark, I will do several more studies on specific books. At times it is clear that God is purposely hiding Himself from people for a reason. (I did crossover from darkness to hiding oneself.)  Then there are times when He uses darkness, not in anger but to get His children to seek Him out in the darkness.  The old saying “every cloud has a silver lining” holds true here – God is there right behind the darkness waiting for you. 

Deuteronomy 32: 20, Jeremiah 33: 5, and Micah 3:4 are references to times when God hides Himself because the people have sinned.  On the other side of that thought is Ezekiel 39: 29 when He says he will no longer hide Himself from those people.  Psalmist also used/complained/realized that God hides Himself – 10: 1; 13: 1; 27: 9; 102: 2; 104: 29 are just a few examples that I found using Bible Gateways’ search engine on “Hide”.

Psalm 97: 2 brings together clouds and thick darkness with the foundation of His throne and righteousness and justice.  I am going to slip back in the idea that God wants us to seek Him.  This leads me to another “dark to light” idea that Jesus did many times in Scripture – He would tell people to not talk about what He did for them.  This does not cover Jesus telling demons to be quiet and to not speak – He did not need their acknowledgments.  In part, I believe this was to maintain a layer of “darkness” about Himself so that others would seek Him out.

TAKE AWAY – No matter how dark it is, seek Him.  Maybe all you can do is raise your hands and say the name of JESUS!