Darkness

Under the full moon we embarked, Elise and I, up through the moonlit fields. We had not gone far til silence began to close around us. There was something in the darkness with us, it wasn't the deer or in the rustle of the bush it was surrounding, it was a movement within us, a silent yet mysterious peace, a presence of sorts.



1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
14 ... men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.



18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Elise and I read Isaiah 45 when we had reached our highest point, we had no idea what to expect we were just there to sit in God's presence to let our heart well up in praise.



I'd be lying to say that I felt something different there on that hill, I felt God but when my chief concern was to find the cross that had so much signifigance to me, I was sad to find that God was not going to choose to reveal himself in the same way he had before. He was taking me beyond the territory I had gone, revealing new and different things.




I have always been afraid of the dark ever since I was a kid. Elise was telling about how her dad created a monster spray to scare away the monsters in her closet. I think in that weird statement I got more of a glimpse of God than I had gotten in quite a while. God is someone who comforts our fears, comfoting us when everything seems to be so scary at life.

Elise and I went the back way back into Poly Canyon going down the hill in which we had climbed earlier on the other side, as we decended into the valley, we made a few wrong turns, but God was there with us, he guided us down that hill into the valley. We both survived, past the rustling of bushes the deer, which startled both of us and into the forest. God was leading me into new territory and relieving my fears, and the beauty that was found in the forest was indescribable, it was dark but it was beautiful, the moon came through the trees and no camera could capture the beauty that was there in that place.

We must all conquer those things which we fear, for me the darkness, we must lay aside those fears and let God work through us wholly, if we can't we will not be wholly surrendered to God.