Daily Word

The best we can do when we go through great difficulties is to be still and listen: “What does God want to do with me now?”

A truly difficult experience can be described as “the plucking of feathers” (1/.). We are stripped bare, left standing “naked,” and lose face. In other words, it involves being subjected to public disgrace, scrutiny, and humiliation. Everyone sees our weaknesses and our failures, and we face public criticism and questioning.

All our “feathers” are plucked—everything we once boasted about or excelled in, the status and respect we held—and we are reduced to nothing!

Why does God allow this?

So that all pride, self-defence, and self-sufficiency may be broken down, and God may receive all the glory.

Perhaps God is putting us through “the sieve”—just as He did with the disciples (2/.).

Everything spins and collapses; we fall flat on our faces, doing the very things we promised we would never do, and feel like total failures. All our hopes are dashed, and it feels as though our entire world is falling apart.

It becomes clear just how much insincerity, self-preservation, and fear of man still reside within us. We thought Christ was the center of our lives—but no! It’s still ME! Bitter tears!

Other difficult processes include “the tunnel” and “the mine.” (3/.)

These experiences are known as "the dark night of the soul."

The “tunnel” experience involves walking through a darkness that seems to have no end. God seems far away, prayer no longer works (the heavens are closed), Bible reading yields nothing, and you find yourself alone and isolated.

In “the mine”—amidst deep darkness and unbearable pressure over a long period—the "diamonds" are formed. All superficiality, impatience, and feigned enthusiasm are pressed away; spiritual pride, along with a reliance on feelings and outward manifestations, is stripped off. Gone are the quick fixes, the envy, the resentment, and the tendency to compare oneself with others—leaving only "a humble and contrite heart."

Now the Lord can open up the deep springs of the Spirit, and the most beautiful thing of all emerges: the Christ-like person, possessing true wisdom—which consists of perseverance, patience, humility, and goodness.

(1/. Job 19:9); (2/. Luke 22:31–32); (3/. Isaiah 50:10–11; Job 28:1–28)