Storms & darkness

Psalm 18:6-11 NKJV

In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears. [7] Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. [8] Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. [9] He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. [10] And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. [11] He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters And thick clouds of the skies.

God often does His most powerful work when our lives are wracked with stormy trials and during the deep darkness of our troubles.

When we're overwhelmed and at our weakest, that's when we see the intervention of our Heavenly Father.

Each one of you reading this can recall those very hard times when you had no strength of your own and were carried by the Lord, supported against all odds, and delivered from the jaws of defeat.

This week we retrace the events, dark events of Jesus' Passion.

After the triumph of Palm Sunday, Jesus came face to face with His foes.

He incensed them by casting out the money changers who were exploiting those coming to worship in the Temple.

As He brought healing and enlightenment to the people, the priests were plotting to kill Him.

And their plot succeeded - but under cover of that darkness, God was bringing about the greatest victory of all time - our Salvation!

When it seemed the end of the road for Jesus on the Cross - there was darkness at mid day...

Matthew 27:45-46 NKJV

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. [46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

The Power of the Cross shines the light on our darkest times - it's a paradox - but true.

Be assured the Lord is working in your darkest hour.