Walking Through Dark Times With God | Timeless Truths – Dr. Charles Stanley

timeless truths a collection of classic sermons from dr charles stanley today's selection recorded in 1998 walking through dark times with god [Music] when you go through dark moments in your life and you don't understand exactly what's going on you can't figure out why things are happening the way they are you look around you you don't see any real reason or purpose for it or you may even look for somebody to blame or feel somebody's responsible or it just might be that you come to the place you think god where are you you don't sense his presence anymore and how could god possibly love you and allow you to walk through such awesome darkness as you feel and somehow no matter what you do and how spiritual you may feel like you have been you're going through a period of time in your life and you have absolutely no understanding of what is going on and how long is this going to last and why do i feel this pain why do i feel the hurt what did i do to deserve this how do you respond when you've had those feelings in those moments of darkness well that's what i want to talk about in this message entitled walking with god through dark times i want you to turn if you will to genesis first book in the bible i want us to look if you will beginning in this 37th chapter because in this 37th chapter begins the story of the life of joseph all the way to the end of the book of genesis 50 chapter 50. and you say well why would you choose someone like joseph because here's a young man who walked through the darkness for 13 years before the light absolutely broke in awesome radiance upon him and the reason god has placed the lives of these men in the scripture is because it is through their lives he likens helps us to liken our experiences to them maybe not the same thing but the same kind of experience and likewise and the most important is this that the principles that god wants to teach us he teaches us by unfolding them in the way he operates in the lives of other people and so the life of joseph this is a perfect example of how god works in our life when you and i walk through the darkness so you say well now what do you mean by darkness i mean simply this those difficult hard trying times temptation difficulty trials persecutions that you and i go through that sometimes we just can't understand why or what is happening it may be financial it may be in your family it may be your relationships whatever it might be but we all have those times we go through so i want you to look if you will in this first verse of chapter 37. now jacob lived in the land where his father has sojourned in the land of canaan these are the records of the generations of jacob joseph when 17 years of age was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth along with the sons of bilhah and the sons of zilpah his father's wives and joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father now israel loved joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic and his brother saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms now imagine having 11 brothers and none of them like you but listen this gets worse verse 11 and his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the saying in mind he told about a dream now this is the beginning of a long period of darkness so let me recount the darkness for a moment his brothers didn't like him they hated him and they were jealous of him and of course he felt this living in a family of those kind of close ties and seemingly nobody likes you and if you'll recall that he also told his entire family about this dream he had that he had these sheaves were in the field and his sheaf was in the middle and everybody else's was around his and they all bowed down to his sheave well you can imagine how that stirred up uh good heart good feelings and of course that just made them that much more angry even his parents didn't understand all this well one day he went to find his brothers for his father and they saw him coming they said it's about time we settle this issue let's kill him and so they decide to kill him well reuben of course did not want that to happen and so they finally decided to throw him in a pit there was no water in the pit so they figured ultimately something would happen and finally these ishmaelites came along and they were on their way to egypt and so they decided to sell him so they sold him for 20 pieces of civil what a bargain sold him for 20 pieces of silver so he goes to egypt and he goes down to egypt he gets sold on the block somewhere and so he's a slave and so he becomes a slave in potiphar's household potiphar is one of the folks who works close to pharaoh and so he's a slave in part of his household well he gets a little glimmer of hope here because uh he proves himself and potiphar finally puts all of his belongings into the hand of joseph he trusts him that much he says joseph's over everything that i own well he did such a good job that uh potiphar's wife was attracted to him and so she tried to get him to go to bed with her and he would not do it and so she framed him and had him thrown in prison so the darkness is getting darker and so in prison for example he's there for some time we don't know how long but uh before he's recognized by the chief jalen chief jailer recognizes something different about joseph and before long this man's in charge of the jail and so from the age of from the age of 17 to the age of 30 13 years we find young joseph walking through a period of almost uninterrupted darkness in his life now as we said before god uses people to teach people and therefore if you and i want to learn the ways of god how he operates and how we to respond then we look to see how did god operate in the life of a person like jose if you say well now wait a minute now but my life's not like joseph he was over there in egypt and i'm here in the united states and all these things that's not even the issue the issue is this what's the principle god works by god is still listen god has not changed his principles over these years the principles he used in the life of joseph and moses david and daniel and paul and pete and all the rest he's still operating the same basis because god doesn't change he operated on the basis of perfection then he operated on a basis of the same purpose as then as he has today so god is going to operate in the same principles in your life in my life no matter who we are and what we do now the first thing i want you to jot down is this when you and i are walking through dark times the first thing to remember is this god is with us this young man went through 13 years a very very dark time joseph began to learn very early in his life god was with him he gave him favor to the man who bought him as a slave he gave him favor to a man who no doubt was rather a rough uh crude probably kind of man because he was overseeing all those egyptian prisoners and those kind of people aren't usually the kind gentle type he saw in joseph some qualities that finally he just turned it all over to him one thing that he knew god was with him you and i are quick to quote the 23rd psalm when we go through those dark periods in our life and you remember the phrase that we probably like the best of all that is even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death the dark times he says i will fear no evil for what thou what art with me it is the fact and the assurance that god is with us that makes all the difference he says i will never leave you nor forsake you turn if you will to the 139th psalm because oftentimes it's difficult for us to believe that god is with us when we are hurting we are feeling pain and we're asking god where are you why don't you change my circumstances we've got lots of questions for him and somehow he doesn't seem to get upset with our questions and i want you to notice in this 139th psalm which deals with the whole idea of our running from him or escaping from him and listen to what he says just in the 11th and 12th verses david says if i say surely the darkness shall overwhelm me and the light around me will be night even the darkness is not dark to thee and the night is as bright as the day darkness and light are alike to thee and here's what it should say to us when you and i are walking through those dark times and we wonder god where in the world are you and what's going on it's what you can remember that almighty god who saved us who lives on the inside of us is with us i will never leave you nor forsake you now here's the difference it is easier for us to believe in the presence of god or sense the presence of god in life when when things are going our way it's sort of easy to believe yes i do believe god's with me but what about when the light's taken away and everything looks dark and gloomy and i don't see any light at the end of the tunnel out there anywhere then can i still believe that my god who promised to be with me who will never forsake me am i willing to believe that he's with me now when i don't feel his presence i don't see his presence and somehow i can't conceive that he could allow me to go through this do i still believe he's with me yes yes he is god is with me no matter what principle number two god always has a purpose for the darkness he allows us to walk through god always has a purpose for the darkness he allows us to walk through now if i understand listen carefully what i'm going to say now if i understand what that purpose is somehow no matter how dark it is i can manage better but most of the time we don't understand what the purpose is most of the time we don't discover what that purpose is until after we are out of the darkness but oftentimes god is willing to reveal to us what it is now joseph i don't think joseph understood what god's purpose was i don't think he ever forgot that dream he had when all the other sheaves in his family bowed down before his i don't think he understood that more than like they'd kept coming back to him he'd probably think well god what in the world did that dream mean it certainly doesn't seem that it meant much you know here i got framed by part of his wife now i'm a prisoner i'm here in prison even though i'm in charge i'm still i'm still an egyptian prisoner i'm still in prison you see god is under no obligation to show you and me what his purpose is but what i want you to notice is this god never operates without a purpose god does not allow you and me nor does he send us through the dark moments of our life without a purpose he always has a specific purpose in mind because he predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of his son god doesn't do things haphazardly and he does not allow things just to happen to us now listen when you hear christians talk about let me tell you what happened to me and all of us say that what i want you to remember is this whenever you say this just happened and that just happened it could only happen under the divine all-knowing supervision of a sovereign god who has every single thing in life under his control who has a definite purpose in your life and who is allowing these things to happen for a definite purpose now you say well why in the world would god allow young men like like joseph whom the bible says nothing negative about why allow him 13 years of walking through this darkness god had a very specific purpose preserving the nation of egypt preserving listen not the nation of egypt but the nation of israel jacob and his family remember one of remember his sons one of whom was judah through whom that was the line through whom the redeemer the messiah the lord jesus christ came friend god is always ahead of us he's got everything under control he's working everything in his absolute perfect timing he has a purpose for every single solitary thing it took 13 years to train up this young hebrew to become the prime minister of the entire nation of egypt and it would be joseph himself this young hebrew who grew up in egyptian bondage who would ultimately second only the pharaoh rule the economy of the whole nation god had a specific purpose third thing i want you to remember he will only keep us in the darkness until he has accomplished that purpose he's only going to keep us there until he's accomplished that purpose whatever it is now with joseph it took from the age of 17 to 30. when god's timing was right when it fit into god's plan for what he was going to do in the world at that particular time god will only keep you and me in those times of darkness until he's accomplished his purpose in their life now if i don't know what the purpose is it's a lot more difficult to walk through the darkness and especially the time goes and it's on and on in its days and weeks and months and years it's more difficult oftentimes for us to put up with that and we say lord now wait a minute something you've not forgotten no and once in a while i find myself arguing with him a little bit and then you know the truth is universal his face is you can't argue with god i mean you can't out argue god you can tell him everything you want to tell him and he's probably saying i've heard that before yes yes yes yes yes then when we finish he will tell us what he wants us to know or he'll be quiet and let us listen let us get under his will and his discipline and do what he calls us to do until he desires either to change that circumstance or whatever it might be he will only keep us there as long as is necessary to do what in order for us to learn what he wants us to learn or for him to accomplish what he wants us to accomplish now next principle we're always walking toward the dawn of a new day when you and i walk into the darkness we're always walking till the dawn of a new day now at the age of 17 it was dark in that pit it was dark on their way to egypt as a slave it was it was dark on the slave block in egypt it was dark in that prison for a long time and it was dark probably most all the time but you know what the day someone said to joseph joseph you to stand before pharaoh what you to stand before pharaoh and pharaoh said to him you interpret this dream he interpreted the dream to pharaoh and you know what happened all the darkness of 13 years absolutely disappeared and the absolute total glory of god was all over him and he lived to be 110 years of age that meant for 80 years he lived in egypt with pomp and glory and honor and wealth second only to the pharaoh now let me ask you a question do you think it was even a question in his mind when somebody says josie was these 80 years of living in egypt saving your family helping to save the world was it was it worth 13 years in prison yes yes i believe everybody who walks through darkness and comes out the other side and has kept their focus on the lord god would turn around and say yes dark yes painful hurtful trying difficult misunderstood yes why because my friend god loves us he's always he's always moving us toward the dawn and no matter where you are and what you're going through today there is light listen there is a dawn there is going to be a new day god's going to bring you through it no matter what it may be tough right now you think god how am i going to be able to stand this he's going to enable you he will enable us and sometimes it's a day at a time and somebody may say well how do you stand this one day at a time how do we live one day at a time the just you live by faith how one day at a time and sometimes we get lots of hopes and we can see the future gets brighter and yet oftentimes in those dark times it's one day at a time we learn more in the darkness but we're always moving toward the light you see that's why you don't ever have to give up if god has said here's what i'm going to do you can rest your eternal life on the fact that god in all of this sovereign power everything in heaven is behind the promise of god he will make it a living reality no matter what you cannot stop god when god says here's what i'm going to do now a conditional promise is here's what i'll do if you do thus and so but when god says here's what i'm going to do there's no question about it that is an unconditional promise of god that cannot be conditioned or altered by anything and i could give you a number of very personal experiences when god says here's what i'm going to do it was totally irrational to me didn't fit anything it was a struggle for me a big battle for me to believe what i'd heard but i'll never forget getting in the prayer room one day when i was really struggling about something it's like the lord said to me now are you going to believe what you see what you feel what you hear or what i said and when i finally could come to the conclusion to say god i'm going to believe what you said i can remember all hell broke loose everything around me said you can't believe it what i heard what i saw what i felt it's like the lord would say to me you going to believe what i said are you going to believe what you feel what you see what you hear that's why we must learn to listen to god and not question the word of the father he will do what he promised to do and you know what that means that no matter what's going on how much darkness we walk through there's always light always light out there somewhere god will bring us through all of that one last thing and one last principle here and that's simply this and that is those things we learn in the darkness we are to share in the light those things we learn in the darkness with to share in the light remember what jesus said in that 10th chapter of matthew 10th chapter of matthew listen to what he said speaking to his disciples and certainly a message for all of us he said in verse 27 what i tell you in the darkness speak in the light what you hear whispered in your air proclaim upon the housetops god wants us to share what he teaches us in the darkness those difficult times listen if you listen carefully you know that one of the ways that it establishes the truth and you understand even better what god has done in your life is when you share it with someone else when you're able to share with someone else what god has taught you or what he's in the process of teaching you it's like god just entrenches it a little deeper and a little deeper and a little deeper god is working in your life god is doing a mighty work and so he says what you he says what you learn what i tell you in the darkness that is that when i tell you when you're alone you don't understand what's going on and you can't quite conceive of all the things that happen what i tell you then what i teach you then what i show you then he says you're to speak in the light now i don't know where you are in your walk with the lord i don't know what kind of darkness is covering you maybe financial darkness relational darkness family darkness all kinds of darkness that we all have to deal with in life i don't know what it is but this much i know if you're a child of god he's with you in it he has a purpose he's only going to allow you in that darkness to accomplish his purpose when it's accomplished he'll bring you out of it if you will listen carefully and act wisely you'll learn things in the darkness you're not going to learn the other way there is a light there is a dawn there is a new day you'll come you can come out of it and you will come out of it and not only that when you come out you should come out praising him thanking him declaring to others the greatness of god the dependability of god the faithfulness of god the love of god to provide for you so abundantly you say well but suppose i'm not a christian then my friend you're walking in darkness is something entirely different if you're not a believer you're walking in darkness not only that your heart's dark you say well how do i get light in my soul how do i get light in my life here's the way you do it jesus said i am the light of the world therefore if you want the light of truth in your life you ask the lord jesus christ to forgive you of your sins and you tell him that you believe in his forgiveness on the basis that he went to calvin paid your sin debt in full and that you're receiving him as your personal savior and surrender your life to him in that moment the light of the world the eternal light of god what happens it lights up in your heart the holy spirit comes to dwell in you and to live through you the life of christ and then you have the privilege of doing what you have the privilege of trusting him walking through the difficult times you say well now now once i get saved when everything change your whole eternal destiny is going to change your circumstances may remain the same well now becoming a christian does not mean that god's going to change everything no you may have to walk through some very very dark days even after you're saved let's say that you're married to a person who's an unbeliever hates god doesn't want anything to do with bible jesus god they're going to be some dark days your parents may not be christian and they don't want you to even think about being called in the lord's service dark days you may have been deeply deeply in debt and just because you're saved doesn't mean god's going to get you out of it he will but not that quick maybe some dark days just because you become a believer does not mean that all the dark days are over but here's what it means before in the darkness you were there alone you weren't learning anything you weren't going anywhere you weren't prospering you weren't learning the great principles of god you were floundering in darkness now god will take your same old circumstance the same old difficulty in hardships and trials now he puts purpose in them now god begins to work in your life now he begins to grow you up now he hedge in the direction of the dawn of a new day he will bring you through it but it begins with trusting him as your personal savior i want to encourage you wherever you are whatever you're going through no matter what if you've never trusted him just to say lord jesus i've blown it i'm walking in darkness my life is full of sin i am full of rebellion i've been trying to have it my way i confess my sin to you i ask you to forgive me i'm trusting you as my savior i want the light of christ in my life i want to walk in your way even if it's through dark periods i must know that you're there with me and you have a purpose in it and he will or you may be a believer and you're walking through a very dark time after the first service several people said to me you talked right to me this morning i'm walking through one of those dark times well my friend listen if you'll just take these simple principles they're so simple but they're all powerful he's with you has a purpose the purpose is over he brings you out you learn a whole lot more in the dark than you do in the light god in his wonder what will he do hedge in the direction of the dawn of a new day you know what happened he'll give you the privilege of sharing in the light these awesome things he teaches you in the dark and father how grateful we are that you love us and that your love for us is unconditional and that you don't react to us you understand our weakness and our frailties and our doubts and our fears in the darkness you're still there and i pray that those who have heard this message that the spirit of god will sink it so deep wrap it around their heart tightly that it may begin to work in their soul their spirit in their heart so that jesus who is the light of the world [Music] becomes the light of their life and father for all of your saints who are going through darkness just bring them to the realization that you are a loving gentle father they don't even realize it you have them by the hand you're leading them through the darkness we love you and praise you for being that kind of father in jesus name [Music] amen

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 226,154

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley, Charles Stanley, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, Preaching, Bible teaching, Dr. Stanley, Intouch ministries, intouch

Id: DT4r8b049G4

Length: 26min 36sec (1596 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021