I subscribe to a rather neat newsletter, Friends of the Little Portion Hermitage. I like reading these so much, I save each one. Today’s title caught my eye and it gave me pause when I read it. ‘The Discipline of Darkness.’...
Today’s title caught my eye and it gave me pause when I read it. ‘The Discipline of Darkness.’ Today’s was a statement by Oswald Chambers:
“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him.… Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God?… When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light.” ~Oswald Chambers

For me, personally, I’ve felt the disconnect. I’ve questioned it, I’ve never given myself a chance to see it for what it was: my necessity for God in my life, because without Him, I’m not able to do anything.
St Paul mentions this on more than one occasion in his letters throughout the New Testament, that we are solely dependent on God for all of our needs. Sometimes, we get a little comfortable and we tend to take God for granted. We tend to just figure, ‘Eh. It’s all in the bag.’ But, what we fail to remember is sometimes God steps back to show us that we’re becoming complacent. Lazy. He does this to remind us, ‘Hey, you’re not left to do this on your own, you know...’

It’s honestly the same with our own growth with God. God sets us down and He takes a few steps back and encourages us to come to Him. We don’t like this and we, not unlike a small child learning to walk, have a rather vocal protest about this change of events. God, in His infinite love and patience, won’t leave us, but He’s not going to allow us to leave us to just stay and stew in our tantrum, either. He’s there to encourage us, to help us out, sure, but I promise you He will not do the work for us. He is there to help us grow and learn, but He is also going to step back and let us come to Him. As any Parent/Child relationship as we, human beings, do with our own children.
Growth absolutely can’t happen in a healthy way if we are ‘Helicopter Parents’ with our children, and it’s no different with God. God isn’t a ‘Helicopter Dad,’ He loves us so much, He’s willing to meet us where we are, sure, but He is not going to let us stay there, either. He’s there, He’s absolutely willing to step back and let us come to Him.
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