A Dark Time and A Dark Night

Psalm 51
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Sometimes we may lie in bed, surrounded by darkness.  A lot of times we can’t sleep so we may just lay there; just lay there and ponder things.  We know physically it is dark, but think for a moment about being in spiritual darkness. 
 
Looking at our passage, I would say that David was going through a time of spiritual darkness.
 
Spiritual darkness is basically when you are disconnected from God or feel that you are disconnected from God.
 
This was during the time David was a king.  David was an awesome king – going from a shepherd to slaying lions and then Goliath.  Not only that but being anointed king and then all the things he had to deal with - King Saul and all these other things he had to deal with. 
 
In the Psalms we can see him crying out to God.  In this psalm right here David is crying out to God because David had committed a great sin with Bathsheba.  Nathan the prophet had come to David and told David about his sin. 
 
When we talk about a dark time and a dark night, I can imagine that at this was a dark time in David’s life.  He was in a situation where he had experienced fellowship with God, but now he seems to be disconnected from God.
 
Even in our own lives sometimes we can go through those dark times and those dark nights.   We turn around and we wonder – God, where are you?
 
There was a young lady that I used to go to church with; she is a good friend to my wife and I.  At one time she and her then husband were going through some things.  They hadn’t been married that long and he was one of those abusers.  There was this time when he grabbed her and was fighting and choking her - the only way that she could keep him off of her was to get a knife to make him back off of her.  She didn’t cut him but she had this knife.  The police came and as we know most times in domestic dispute somebody goes to jail.  Since she had the knife, they took her.  She later told me that she can remember lying in the back of the police car.   They were getting ready to take her to county jail and she was crying out: “Lord God, I haven’t done anything!  Where are you?” She was crying out to God.
 
At that exact same time I was by myself driving that truck.  I was in the rec center parking lot  - this was about 4:30 or 5 in the morning - and the spirit of God began to press upon me.  He said Pray for Porsha!   I mean I had never in my life experienced this: He said “Pray for Porsha! Pray for Porsha!”  I mean it was just pressing upon me, so I stopped the truck and turned the truck off.   I began to pray for her and later on I found out that at the exact same time that the Lord told me to pray for her, she was in the back of the police car saying “Lord where are you?  Where are you Lord?”  And the Lord had me praying for her.  
 
Sometimes we have those dark times and those dark nights.
 
When we feel that God is nowhere near; that he’s no where around us.
 
David says: “ Have mercy upon me, O God according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
 
Here, David is crying out.  David was in that dark place.  He’s crying out to Almighty God and in the seventh verse he tells the Lord “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean…”  David is in a dark place and He is crying out to God, asking God to purge him, to cleanse him.
 
You know sometimes, you might be going through a situation - maybe not a situation like David, but maybe you are going through a thing and you are crying out to God.  That’s one thing David had a knack for doing.  David would go back and if he messed up he would cry out to God.   He would go and fall on his face before God and cry out.
 
And that’s what God wants us to do.    You know, we are going to experience difficulties; we are going to experience trials in this life.  It can be a dark night, and it can be a dark time. If we are caught in a situation where we feel that God is nowhere near us, He wants us to call out to Him.
 
Even when you look at the life of Jesus, who was the Son of God - the one who came into this world and bore our sins and griefs -  He had those dark days and dark nights. I think about when He was in the garden and He was praying.  After He got through praying the angels came and ministered to Him. If He had those dark days and dark nights and dark times, what do you think we are going to experience?
 
We’re going to experience those darkness on this road to heaven.
 
If you are in the midst of your dark time remember that David also said that joy comes in the morning.
 
“Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5)
 
If you are in the middle of a dark time or a dark night, remember morning is on the way.  Cry out to God, our Bright and Morning Star.