It’s getting cold

We might still have some time before we have to turn on the heat or light up the fire place, but winter will come.  It always does.

Some winters are harder than others… some more mild… but no matter what the temperature does one thing is for sure…

The nights are longer.  And nights are dark.   Maybe that is why Paul wrote to Tim…

“Do thy diligence to come before winter.” 2 Timothy 4:21

Paul wanted Timothy to get to him before the long, dark nights came upon him.  He wanted someone to bear is burdens.  He wanted the fellowship.  Paul had been through some rough winters… winters that caused storms and shipwrecks.

Do we sometimes experience winters like that?

Are you in one right now?

The winters in our life don’t necessarily come with the physical change of seasons.  Sometimes we experience a winter of our own.  A time when it seems darker,… colder.  We may feel that we are getting cabin fever, that we are trapped in our circumstances and have no control.

Our job or a loss of a job might be a winter.   Failing relationships might be a winter.  Unmet expectations have a way of causing shadows.

And then the darkness falls.  And we feel all the more alone.  Waiting for the light to shine.  Waiting for morning to come.

Well… maybe we shouldn’t.  Maybe there is something about the winter that blesses us.  Maybe, in all of this time… the cold, the dark, the feeling of isolation… we can find hope.

I know of one man who ventured into the darkness… and we can see why.

Moses. 

When everyone else feared the darkness, Moses went in.

Because that was where God revealed Himself.

“And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God [was].” Exodus 20:21

“The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.” 1 Kings 8:12

Perception is everything.  Are there times when “darkness” is presented as bad in the Word?  Absolutely.  But there are also times when it is presented, as in the verses above, as something that reveals God’s glory.

Often the difference is in us, not in God.

Wherever you are right now.  Whatever the season… if you are in winter… look for God there.

He may have removed everything else… every other source of “light” in your life… so that you can walk into the thick darkness where He dwells.  Into the place of obscurity, that secret place.  A place that only you and He know about.

He has given us each a private place to meet with Him.

Sometimes He needs to remind us to go there. 

Sometimes He brings winter… sometimes He brings the cold… sometimes He brings the darkness…

So He can be our Comfort, the Fire, and the Light.

I pray that, if you are in winter now… that you find God there.

SDG