Have you ever watched one of those older Sci-Fi movies where the room is dark with the exception of one or two dim red lights? It looks like there are clotheslines hung around the room with pictures hanging from the lines.
Back a few decades ago and even today in unique and unusual situations people take negatives which is basically a picture but it’s a piece of plastic with outlines and some shading to where the light parts are a bright white and the dimmer parts are just black, there’s no color, including grey; it’s a pretty ugly image.
Then there are people that take these images into a Darkroom where light exposure is controlled.
I don’t know a ton about darkrooms which is why I can’t explain it very well. Most of what I do know I learned on google and Wikipedia this morning, but it got me thinking. What if our lives are a resemblance of a photo or a negative before it can be processed.
At first, our situations seem bleak, rough, misfortuned, maybe even despairing. Nothing seems right, God feels far away. This is your darkroom.
Here’s the problem, is it hard to be content in your darkroom? Of Course! When things aren’t going our way we naturally want to do everything in our power to fix the situation, change our atmosphere, we don’t want to stay.
In a darkroom if a photo is exposed to too much light or if someone were to take the photo out of the darkroom then it would be completely ruined because those photos are extremely light sensitive once the process begins.
If you were to take it out of the darkroom it would get bright white or overexposed therefore ruining your photo.
Christians today want so badly to leave their darkroom, they numb the pain, they ignore God because they bite into this belief that God ISN’T everywhere. Sometimes it’s incredibly evident to see God’s handiwork throughout our lives and it makes believing in his power easier.
Yet, when we enter into this stage of our lives where we struggle, we lose hope, our faith fails, that’s when we forget about God’s power in our lives. If you are reading this I PROMISE, God is NOT done with you yet. You are still breathing, you still have life which means God WANTS you.
That is such a powerful truth that is sometimes ignored.
Back to the illustration. If a photo is carefully and precisely developed in the darkroom, then once it is removed from the dark it comes out as a beautiful, complete and perfected.
If you feel like you are in a hard place, this time of despair, a time of “why God?” Then God has 3 promises for you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 – “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
God will NEVER leave you.
God will NEVER forsake you.
I am the Lord your God will be with you, throughout the whole time, throughout your whole life.
Your darkroom doesn’t have to be your gravesite. It sounds weird, but hear me out. So many people give up because they lose hope. They feel as if God abandoned so they turn to other things to satisfy them and hope it helps them cope and get through this hard time.
After a while, they get so far from God that it’s as if they are spiritually dead because they gave up hope in God and gave up faith and once you do that your relationship with Him has broken.
I’m not saying they can’t come back to Christ but they get so addicted and wrapped up in temporary satisfaction and numbing the pain that they become so reliant on that and the world and not on Jesus Christ.
They don’t realize is that God ALLOWED them to go through this trial and He is by their side, they just are not seeking Him and relying on his strength through the darkroom.
Maybe you are trying to numb the pain, maybe you feel as if hope is running slim and it’s getting harder and harder. Hold on, not to yourself but onto God and onto his promises for you. Cling to Christ for dear life and He will NOT let you down.
Some people act or even pretend like God can actually make mistakes. ” The problem is that God is perfect and He doesn’t make mistakes. If something isn’t right in your eyes its because God is ALLOWING it and is trying to grow you through it, or it could be that YOU messed up.
This is getting long so I’ll wrap it up, but remember this: God is with you, His plan for your life is perfect. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Life might feel like a tornado but hold onto Christ and you will make it through, and when you do, you might just look back and see how God worked all things out for your good.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 – (11) “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (12) In those days when you pray, I will listen. (13) If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
Instead of asking “God, why are you doing this?” Ask God “God, what are you trying to teach me through this”