WILL all Christians go through a period (or
periods) of spiritual darkness? After all, did not the Lord Jesus
say that everyone who follows him will have much trouble in this
life? (Jn. 16:33).
In the 16th century, there emerged several prominent spiritual
writers and guides who took the position that every Christian
who is following Christ will be taken through a "dark night
of the soul". The biblical record of the desert wanderings
of Israel on their way from slavery to blessing, from Egypt to
the Promised Land, became a standard paradigm for the Christian
journey. Soon it became the normative pattern expected in everyone's
life.
The writings of the Spanish mystics John of the Cross and Teresa
of Avila promoted these ideas which became popular. Thus John
spoke of the "dark night of the soul", as a period of
lonely desolation in which spiritual realities dry up. There is
no joy left, no desire to read the Bible or pray, no sense of
the presence of God. However, if one persisted, and hung on by
sheer faith, God will bring one to the light, into a new depth
of spiritual life. Like a train that has to go through a dark
tunnel to continue the journey, the Christian must recognise that
the spiritual darkness is an essential part of the journey.
Teresa of Avila, too, in describing the journey of the soul towards
God, said that the path is not smooth. It will take the Christian
to mountain highs and also deep shadows. The terrain is a necessary
one and we must walk faithfully along this path.
Such ideas were also embraced by writers like the godly William
Law, an 18th century Anglican clergy. John Wesley, his contemporary,
respected him highly and read his works regularly. Law taught
that God would test us at times to strip us of some of the things
that we may have come to rely upon for our lives. Even our great
spiritual experiences may hinder further growth, and God may take
these away so that we stand with a faith stripped of all that
is unnecessary, a "naked faith" that will enable us
to rely on God more wholly.
While Wesley respected John, Teresa and Law, he disagreed with
their views regarding the dark night of the soul. He made this
clear by preaching and publishing a sermon entitled "The
Wilderness State". He used Jn. 16:22 as his text arguing
that the gladness that Jesus gives us can never be taken away
from us.
On one count, Wesley and the others agree. The dark night of the
soul is an inner experience; it has very little to do with external
circumstances. In other words, sufferings caused by external circumstances,
such as persecution, or even illnesses, are not the same as the
dark night of the soul. One can have everything going well externally
for oneself and still feel the dry suffocating desert within.
WESLEY differed from the others on two counts.
Firstly, he challenged the universality of the experience of the
dark night. He insisted that Christians need not have this experience;
it was not essential to the Christian journey. He was consistent
here in that while suffering was promised for every disciple of
Christ, periods of spiritual darkness were not part of the fine
print. Secondly, he differed in his understanding of the causes
for the dark night. While John, Teresa and Law saw it as part
of God's design for the Christian life, and that this experience
does not mean that we have sinned against God in some way, Wesley
viewed this experience as primarily caused by sin, ignorance or
disappointment arising from an unrealistically rosy view of the
Christian life.
Because they differed in their views, the solutions offered are
also quite different. For Wesley, if one went through such a period
of spiritual darkness, the solution is, clearly, repentance, Bible
reading (to remove spiritual ignorance) and developing a more
realistic and robust view of the Christian life. The key is repentance
from one's sinfulness. Those he differed from would prescribe
a different solution. They would suggest that one needs to recognise
the terrible experience as God's chosen method to deepen our lives.
The primary task is not repentance, but continuing faith and faithfulness.
Who then is right here? It is important to determine this, if
not for anything, at least for its pastoral significance. How
does one guide a person who is going through a period of spiritual
darkness?
If Wesley and the others with whom he disagreed were to have met
and discussed more deeply (though they, except Law, came from
two different centuries), I believe they may have come to a common
position that will dispel the difficulty for us.
Wesley is right in insisting that the dark night of the soul was
not universally normative. Not every Christian has to experience
it, though many Christians seemed to have had a brush with periods
of spiritual darkness. We would also have no difficulty agreeing
that some of the causes of this kind of experience would be personal
sins and ignorance. What would have been immensely helpful, though,
is if Wesley had included in his list of causes some space for
unknown causes. Sometimes, people experience spiritual darkness
with no identifiable cause (like sin or spiritual attack) except
that God wants to take them through it for the higher purpose
of deeper holiness, trust and love.
Wesley himself had such an experience. Seven months after his
heart-warming Aldersgate experience, Wesley sunk into darkness.
He wrote in his journal,
"My friends affirm I am mad, because I said I was not a Christian
a year ago. I affirm I am not a Christian now ... For a Christian
is one who has the fruits of the Spirit of Christ, which are love,
peace, joy. But these I have not."
It can be said that Wesley went through a dark night of the soul
more in the terms of John and Law.
It is easy to read Wesley's sermon wrongly and say that the road
can always be blessed with sunshine. The real road has both sunshine
and darkness, but God is always present with us, as the 23rd Psalm
assures us. To have only the sunshine road paradigm is to miss
reality.
Is it true that our songs in church these days seem to be limited
to the sunshine road? - there are few that speak of the dark days.
Our older hymns, many of which were written in the shadows of
despair and darkness, have a more accurate picture of the spiritual
terrain upon which we are called to walk.
We must take into account the "wilderness state" in
the journey and offer the right perspectives and help for those
who may find themselves alone in the dry overpowering sands of
a spiritual desert.
QUOTE:
'Is it true that our songs in church these days seem
to be limited to the sunshine road? - there are few that speak
of the dark days. Our older hymns have a more accurate picture
of the spiritual terrain upon which we are called to walk.'