dark night

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Jonah part 2 – “REMEMBER”

Posted by David Ward on 12/02/2021
Posted in: Bible, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment
Jonah – a fishy tale

Today we join Jonah as he sits in the darkness inside the great fish. Sitting in the darkness is not comfortable. We avoid times of darkness at all costs. We want to hurry on to resolution and what happens next.

Real life is not always like that…even for followers of Jesus.

Read: Jonah 2: 5-7

  • Could the darkness actually be an invitation to be alone with God?
  • We’re not good at living in the dark times of our lives…times that are difficult and doubting, painful and problematic
  • Sometimes our agendas, dreams, aims and objectives have to wait
  • When the dark times come, we have all kinds of ways of ignoring or avoiding them. We distract ourselves with shopping, alcohol, the media, busyness (even church stuff). We are experts at avoiding pain and darkness.
  • Ultimately these substitutes don’t satisfy us or save us from the darkness
  • God allows times of darkness so we can change and grow. We are not alone in the darkness.
  • We need to prepare for the dark times, by nurturing our relationship with God, being aware of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives and spending time with God in prayer, in the scriptures and as we worship and share with godly friends. Growing spiritually doesn’t just happen…it needs to be fed and encouraged.
  • Then, when the dark times come, like Jonah, we will remember the Lord

Are you aware that your relationship with God is not as close as it once was? I find that dark times in my life often make me painfully aware of this.

What small steps can you make to rekindle the relationship? Maybe setting aside time to use a simple daily prayer app, like Lectio 365 from 24/7 Prayer, will help…think about it.

Talk to a friend you trust about what’s going on for you. Maybe they will agree to help you by regularly meeting up and by not being afraid to ask you difficult questions…good friends can do that!

A Short History of Divorce 2…Desolation

Posted by David Ward on 25/02/2012
Posted in: Relationships. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

He is in complete turmoil. He cannot eat…he loses a lot of weight very quickly. He cannot sleep…he stays downstairs with night-time TV as his only company.

Through his tears he repeats, over and over, “What am I going to do…what am I going to do?” This is the only prayer he can manage…his faith seems empty and impotent.

Then, one morning three weeks later he wakes up…he has fallen asleep on the sofa. It is morning, and he goes into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

Suddenly it hits him, a strange and unfamiliar assurance…

Nothing has changed, but everything is different.

 He feels hungry, so he eats a bowl of cereal.

The distant light of past encounters…

Posted by David Ward on 27/12/2009
Posted in: Books/Articles, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I think I can say (cautiously) that I am beginning to emerge from a very long period when God has seemed silent and absent.It has been a time for a ‘heads down, walking into the wind’ approach to faith, a time when I’ve been grateful for good memories of God’s presence in my life and prayers, and amazed by present hints that God isn’t as absent as he seems.

I mentioned that I’m reading Pete Greig’s book, “God on Mute” at present. He writes so much better than I can in his section called “Holy Saturday-where is God when heaven is silent?” about some of the ways we can engage the silence during these times. I want to share just two examples of these which particularly resonated with me, from a section entitled “Looking Back-remembering God’s Word in the silence.”

“My friend Justin has lost his sense of taste. There are vague hopes of a surgical procedure that might one day restore it to him but, for the last few years, eating has been little more than a flavourless solution to the nutritional needs of his body. Ironically, Elle, his wife, is an accomplished and enthusiastic cook, and whenever we go to their house for dinner, the food is invariably delicious.

When God seems absent, his Word (given with such love) seems devoid of the exquisite flavours it once had. Others at the table may be feasting on the same food with delight – “Taste and see!” they say enthusiastically – but for us there is no flavour. God’s Word has become bland.

And yet, significantly, it remains as nourishing as it ever was and as vital to the well-being of our soul.” (p264)


“How can God be present yet absent?” Perhaps it is like a distant star, flickering faintly in the darkness, whose light we see, without knowing for sure whether the source is still there. Has the star died, or is it still burning brighter than the sun? We remember times when God seemed to speak to us, or to use us, or to answer our prayer and we determine to stay true to those moments of certainty even though the actuality is so alien to our current experience. And thus, by the distant light of past encounters we may navigate the darkness, like a mariner steering by long-extinguished starts when every other point of reference has disappeared.” (p265)


I hope this is helpful!