Psalm 46:4-5 “There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.”
It’s been called “the dark night of the soul.” Sooner or later, we all face times where we feel everything is hopeless. No matter how well things may be going, we find ourselves slogging along, wondering if we will ever see things improve, if there will be a ray of light in our darkness.
Wikipedia describes the “dark night of the soul” this way: The term “dark night of the soul” can be used as a synonym for a crisis of faith.[9] More generally, it is “used informally to describe an extremely difficult and painful period in one’s life”.[note 2]
This crisis may endure for a long time. The “dark night” of St. Paul of the Cross in the 18th century endured 45 years, from which he ultimately recovered. The dark night of Mother Teresa, whose own name in religion she selected in honor of Thérèse of Lisieux, “may be the most extensive such case on record”, having endured from 1948 almost until her death in 1997, with only brief interludes of relief, according to her letters.[11][12]
Other authors have made similar references:
Inayat Khan states, “There can be no rebirth without a dark night of the soul, a total annihilation of all that you believed in and thought that you were.”[13] Joseph Campbell states “The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”[14]
Roberto Assagioli states:
Before the full and final victory, however, the soul has to undergo another test: it must pass through the “dark night” which is a new and deeper experience of annihilation, or a crucible in which all the human elements that go to make it up are melted together. But the darkest nights are followed by the most radiant dawns and the soul, perfect at last, enters into complete, constant and inseparable communion with the Spirit, so that – to use the bold statement employed by St John of the Cross – “it seems to be God himself and has the same characteristics as him”.[15]
Generally, these fears gang up on us at 2 AM, when dawn is still a long way off, and the night is at its darkest; however, sometimes these “dark nights” might last for years. There are various ways of combating these fears, but prayer is the very best. One of those who have written about the dark night of the soul is Saint John of the Cross, a sixteenth century saint who wrote a seminal work about this spiritual dilemma, most likely when he was imprisoned in Toledo, Spain. (Certainly, imprisonment would be enough to depress anybody!)
But what if you can’t pray? What if the words simply won’t come? The answer is a simple prayer, commonly known as the “Jesus prayer.” Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Years ago, I read the testimony of an American who had lost his white-collar job and was reduced to working on an assembly line in a factory to feed his family. In desperation, this man began repeating the Jesus prayer with each piece he inspected at the factory, and something magnificent happened. The more this man repeated this prayer, the more he found himself praying for those around him-first, his fellow assembly line workers, then the owners of the factory, then all those around him as he went through his day. Not only did this man find himself immersed in intercessory prayer, but he also realized that his whole attitude toward his work, his family, and his community was shifting on its axis. Where before this man had been bitter about the way his original employer had mishandled him, now he was able to forgive that company and to pray for its workers.
Are you going through a fiery trial? Why not begin praying the Jesus prayer and see what happens. Remember that whether or not you feel like it, God is always with you and God always loves you. And also remember that God WILL help you when morning dawns.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on all of us! Let all who read these words take joy in You, knowing that Your help is on the way. In Your mighty and precious Name, King Jesus. Amen.
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