It didn’t just happen—it was created. It is one of the oldest created things in the universe. Older than dirt. Even older than air. It’s at least as old as water—but older than light.
It is … darkness.
GOD created darkness (Isaiah 45:7) for a reason—for many reasons. Darkness is the absence of light, but it is not the absence of God. In fact, Scripture tells us that God not only dwells in darkness, but He made it his home.
“The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.” (1 Kings 8:12 KJV)
“He made darkness his secret place.” (Psalm 18:11 KJV)
Wait. How can God live in the dark? God is LIGHT. How can light dwell in the absence of light?
He CAN, because God’s power is greater than our understanding. That should not surprise us, for there is nowhere that He is NOT. And then there’s this: Psalm 139 says that darkness and light are both the same to Him. (Psalm 139:12) God controls them both—He can use either however He wishes. Just because we don’t understand how He does it, doesn’t mean He cannot do it.
There was a time—not too long ago—when all our photography was captured on rolls of film that needed to be developed. Though for most of us, the digital picture-taking feature on our cellphones has all but replaced old-fashioned film photography—and oh, the money we NOW save in film development! Yet, true darkrooms ARE still used. There will always be those photographers who have a passion to preserve the traditional methods of the craft.
God also has a passion for spiritual image making—for reproducing the perfect likeness of His love, joy, and peace … in you and me. And just as a professional photographer still needs a pitch-black room to transform undeveloped negatives into clear, beautiful images, God uses dark, difficult seasons of hardship, waiting, and pain to correct our flawed character, deepen the colors of our faith, and reveal His perfect image in us.
It’s God’s darkroom.
When we find ourselves in a dark, lonely place, gloom and sadness may whisper in our ears that nobody cares—that God has somehow forgotten us. But it’s not true. We may simply be in God’s darkroom … temporarily, and the darkness is not dark to Him.
The fact is, we never just stumble into His darkroom—He directs us there. On purpose.
Are you in God’s Darkroom? If yes, you’re probably asking: Why? Why me? How long? What good could possibly come from this?
The darkness can make us question the process—especially when we cannot see what God is doing. But God always knows where we are (Job 23:10), and remember: the darkroom is not where the story ends. It is where the full picture is being developed.
Let’s talk about that:
There’s purpose in the darkness.
Like a photograph still hidden in the film canister, there is beauty in us that can only come to light after being developed—in darkness. Trials may be dark, and the process may be painful—but good things come to those who wait, and beauty needs time to become.
Creation is happening in the darkroom.
Something that did not exist before the darkroom will exist after the process—and it could not have come any other way. Take heart. Yes, it may be painful, but it will end well.
Though you cannot see clearly yet—you will.
Light is not allowed in the darkroom. It’s dark for a reason. The moment full light enters, the development process is ruined and must be started all over again. But a limited amount of light is permitted—only a RED safelight. It’s just enough light to see to work, but it is not enough to damage the image.
In God’s darkroom, full disclosure is not part of the process. We will never see clearly the whats, whens, or whys of God making us go through suffering—why He keeps us in the dark.
But we DO have a little bit of safelight. We, who live on this side of Calvary, can look back and see all that God did in the Old Testament—we see it through the blood-red filter of the Cross. God’s eternal plan was finished at the Cross—His purposes for Man were developed by the shedding of His own cleansing, perfecting, and purifying blood. So, now, it is only when we view His perfect plan through the blood that, though we cannot see clearly, we can understand a little of what He’s doing—and why.
Even when I don’t see it, He’s working. He never stops working … for my good.
What else can we learn? We will study more of what it means to be in God’s darkroom next time.
(Part 1 of 2)
