“Nothing can live in unbroken sunshine.”
Bob Sorge
The Desire for Unbroken Sunshine
In Secrets of the Secret Place, Bob Sorge writes that “Nothing can live in unbroken sunshine.” When I read that, I laughed and said, clearly he hasn’t met me yet. Realistically though, he’s right.
We all need seasons and change to create conditions in our lives and souls that are different from yesterday, last month, or last year. We need something to look forward to in the future. We need an ongoing reason to hope.
The Desert Season
I’m going through a desert season. It’s not easy for me to hear from the Lord, and it’s been dark…like Alaska in Winter dark. Even when I’ve had dark seasons before, I still felt the Lord guiding me through.
This time is different.
I know He’s there because He says He is. (Deuteronomy 31:8)
I know He’s using what I’m going through, because once again, He says He is. (Romans 8:28)
That doesn’t change the fact that my time spent in His presence in the “secret place” is mostly me reading my Bible, praying, and asking unanswered questions. Ok, and let’s be honest–also tears. More than a few. (If you’re not familiar with the secret place, check out this scripture in Matthew 6:6)
It’s gone on long enough that I have been struggling to stay connected to anyone or not assume something is “wrong” with my relationship with God.
Encouragement to Hope
Graham Cooke recently posted a reel on Instagram where he says this:
“I don’t have to feel his presence to know He’s there. He said He would be. That’s enough.”
Graham Cooke
I’m so thankful to believers, like Cooke, whose words encourage us and speak truth when we find ourselves in the dark.
It has also been encouraging to me to read about the growth that happens to our hearts in these dark seasons.
Secrets of the Secret Place
In Sorge’s chapter titled “The Secret of Enduring,” he says that we need storms and dark periods in life in order to forge perseverance and faith. As we press into God in the middle of the storm, we are driven into the arms of our Heavenly Father who deeply desires to be in relationship with us.
In a later chapter, titled “The Secret of Confinement,” I also found reason to hope. He says that, “It’s in the darkness where God meets in secret with His chosen ones.”
God will comfort us, renew us, and ignite a passion to spend time with Him that’s greater than we’ve known because we’re “pressing into Him with abandonment and desperation.”
Light From the Deep
For those of us walking through a desert season or even the dark night of the soul, the question is, will we continue to seek Him? Desperately?
I am choosing to believe the Truth. The longer we spend in the secret place with God, regardless of whether we can hear Him or not, the brighter our light will shine from the deep.
Are you in darkness? God wants to meet with you, comfort you, and sit with you. It’s ok if you can’t hear Him right now. He promises that He is listening and will act on your behalf.
“‘Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity.’”
Jeremiah 29:12-14
If you would like some encouragement and prayer for the season you’re in, leave a comment below. I promise to pray! Love, Leanna
