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NASB | Lamentations 3:2 He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Lamentations 3:2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. |
Bible Question:
I must say I am surprised to find Jeremiah here in the darkness. He says (Lamentations 3:2,6) “He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light … He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old”. Had not God called that man to be a prophet? Was it not the idea that God would reveal his word and his will to him? The word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. He found his words and ate them (whether before or after this lamentation, I do not know). The word was a fire in his bones, and heat without light is dangerous indeed. God was leading him. Why then this talk of darkness? Job also had been here, in the darkness. He thought (came to the conclusion, found out) that God, “He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man” (Job 12:24,25). Jesus is the light of the world. Those for follow him do not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie. I always thought that the man to whom the way seemed right when it was wrong was an unsaved man. But now it seems the saved man can be wrong as well. He makes mistakes. He misinterprets. He misunderstands. He thinks he’s right when he’s not right. The Lord guides him with his eyes and yet, a man’s goings are of the Lord and he cannot know his own way. He does not know the day of his death. He does not know what a day may bring forth. Even now I have no idea what answer you will give to my question, and I have an idea you will surprise me. Will I look for the light of insight and get the darkness of mindless verbiage? Looking for the light of reality, will I get the darkness of pretence? Whence this darkness? Someone will ask, “Is it perfection that you seek?” No. But I would like more of the light of his presence. And, Yes, I am saved and I read his word and I walk in the light of it and pray. And yet I have no idea how he will use you to enlighten me. Why does our God cause a Jeremiah and a Job to walk in darkness? I have a sign over my desk saying, “Trust God in the darkness”. I wonder if that’s what he wants. |
Bible Answer: Footnote: your questions have ensnared my thoughts. Pondering on darkness. And into darkness. Perchance a preview, a taste, a minute glimpse, of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. For what will it be like for those that do not come to the supper. What darkness will they suffer when God withdraws His absolute presence from them. It is a hard thing to consider because God is so much in this world now. What will it be like when His complete and total presence will be taken from them. Complete and utter darkness. With no hope. Never, ever! Why would I want to ponder on darkness? It shows me how much light there is. (Joh 1:5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Such was the state of man. Yet, while we were in such a state, through the darkness came the cross. Sometimes we need the darkness to see the light. Considering more on perfection: Like a man and his wife: they live together and become closer with each other until the man will start to speak and the wife will finish his sentence with the exact same words that he was going to use. They become to know each other, they become one. "And they shall become one flesh". Does this happen when they first meet? No. In time, being with each other, learning about each other, discerning each other, they are being perfected into one. Caring for one another, not seeing their own needs but rather the other's. "Men love your wives as Christ has loved the church." And with this kind of oneness when one of them dies, the other usually soon follows. Consider the dove, when one of them dies, the other pines itself to death. For they have mated for life. "I speak the words of my Father", says He. Jesus and the Father are so one that as the Father's words form Jesus speaks them. For He is The Word of God. "Father, why hast thou forsaken me.", what torment for one being so close. Did He taste that darkness? Peace to you! |