“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light” (Matthew 10: 27 KJV).
Christians go through some dark and difficult times. They experience storms, tests, and trials by fire. They experience pain, loss, abandonment, heartache, and suffering. Things which if they learn from them will be able share with others.
Such dark and difficult times come because God is working to sanctify the Christian by maturing and molding them into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
But it is in those dark times that we experience the closeness of God. When we are in a dark valley, His Word is more precious and we become more attentive than the times when we are on the mountain top. We seldom, if ever, learn anything on the mountain top. Christians receive the majority of their training and discover the most about God and the Christian life when they’re walking through long dark valleys.
The long dark valley is not some preferential place we choose to go, but, if we’re obedient, submissive, and following Jesus, He will lead us into, through, and eventually out of those dark, painful, difficult, and frustrating places.
The mountain top experience is grand, but we can’t live and grow on the mountain top. God’s anvil fires are in the valley and that is where He shapes His children into the saints that glorify His name.
But the valley is not forever either. We do come out and if we’ve been submissive to God’s work, we will be stronger, wiser, and more ably equipped to help others going through similar situations.
When we come out of the dark and the trial is over and the storm is past and God has comforted us by showing Himself strong and faithful to us, we can then tell others of His might and faithfulness and can comfort and help others as we were by God (2 Cor. 1: 3-7).
So, when we’re in the long dark valley alone with God, we need to be attentive to His voice and His teaching that we might be a better Christian as a result of our trial and might be able to share in the light what we learned in the dark.
