Written by our Lay Leader, Doug
“The only way we can experience lasting peace and contentment is to come to God to be filled with Living Water, the indwelling Holy Spirit.” From “The Upper Room,” September 2, 2000.
I come to God each morning in the darkness of the hour before dawn. Someone said “The darkest night is just before dawn.” We do not do well in the dark. We are self-confident and sure in daylight, but those feelings of security fade with the onset of darkness and by early morning—before the first sign of light—that confidence is completely gone and the night is at its very darkest. When we see the eastern sky starting to brighten, we are filled with such hope for a new day. We have survived the night!
Yet if we rely on God and not our own strength, we can be confident night and day. He does not abandon us at night as our self-confidence does. Things bother us at night that during the day we have totally under control. But it is just an illusion during the day – we are not really in control. We either are busy with other things that cover over and make us forget our insecurities, or we falsely convince ourselves that we’ve got each problem licked. But laying awake in bed at night— far from the light of day, the sound and the fury of the day—our inner self is exposed and we sink into the dark pool of insecurity and we have to admit that we are not in control of our lives. Try as we might, we can’t keep our problems from controlling us.
When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, He sets us free from the burdens that have weighed us down (Galatians 5:1). Our problems don’t just go away, but they no longer have control over us. We give up control to the Lord and we trust in Him, and then that hour before dawn becomes a time of joy. For me it is a time to be filled by His presence, to be renewed, and to look with excited anticipation upon the coming day. For without God‘s presence, without His Holy Spirit, I would be on my own, drifting back and forth daily between sureness and uncertainty. Only by coming to God can I be filled with His Holy Spirit, and have lasting peace and contentment.
Peace,
Doug