Dark Days and Their Uses
By CHAS. P. WHITFORD
I do not refer to dark days caused by climatic conditions, but dark days that come into our religious experience,—days when it seems as if every friend has forsaken us, and God has hidden himself from us,—days when discouragement and trials press upon our hearts until we are almost persuaded to believe that Jesus, that Friend above every other friend, has forsaken us. At such times it is well to remember the words recorded in 2 Cor. 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” We may be comforted with the thought that every dark day in our experience, if recognized as an affliction, is only a “light affliction.” In comparison with the dark days through which Jesus passed while upon earth, the dark days that come to us are comparatively free from darkness and trial. These “light afflictions” of ours are “but for a moment.” Even our lives of forty or sixty years5in this world, as compared with the endless life which the saved will enjoy in the world to come, is only a moment. But why does our Heavenly Father, who says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” permit dark days to come to us? Why not permit us to live in perpetual sunshine, and never have a heartache, sorrow, or disappointment? If he loves us as he says, why should he take from us our loved ones, and thus deprive us of their society, and the happiness we might enjoy with them? Has God a grudge against us? He says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” That means that he will never cease to love us; for “God is not a man, that he should lie.” He himself tells us that these “light afflictions,” which are but for a moment, will work for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” We may not be able to understand, before the trial, just the lesson the Lord wishes us to learn; but we may be assured that he takes no more pleasure in allowing dark days to come into our experience than a loving mother would enjoy in punishing her child. A mother whose heart is filled with love for her child would never cause him a shade of sadness or sorrow, save for his best good. In like manner the Lord, who loves us with an everlasting love, and who knows just what is best for us, permits darkness to come into our experience only for the development of Christian character. Perhaps he desires to bring us where we can realize more fully that this world is not our home, that we have no abiding city here; and to set our hopes upon the better world beyond us, and the better life to come. So he would detach us from the things of this poor, unfriendly world, and bring us into closer relationship with himself. The great apostle Paul said, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Rom. 8:28. There was no uncertainty in the mind of Paul about the matter. He did not say: “I guess,” or “I think,” but, I know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Did Paul have some sad experiences? Read his own words: “Five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” 2 Cor. 11:24-27. Notwithstanding these dark days in the life of Paul, he did not become discouraged, and forsake his Lord. Instead, he sought God for comfort, and as a result he heard a voice saying: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9. Surely Paul had some dark days, but they were properly endured; as a result every trial and every affliction was working out for him, as the text says, an “eternal weight of glory.” And if my sad experiences and yours are properly endured, they will work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Just how some of the experiences that come into our lives can work together for our good is a mystery that we can not understand; but since God says it is true, and since he can not lie, we may be comforted with the thought that by and by we shall be better off than if we had not passed through these trials. In 2 Cor. 4:18 the apostle presents another comforting thought to the child of God: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” These words follow the thought expressed in verse 17,—that trials are for our good. They work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; we should not look at the things we see all around us, to find consolation when these “light afflictions” come; but by the eye of faith we should look beyond, to the things which we can not behold with our natural eyes. These things which are visible to the natural eye are temporal; they are passing away; but the things which we can not see are eternal. Temporal things can afford us comfort only while they continue. Eternal things will afford us comfort eternally.