To walk in darkness and to have no light is a trial well known to the children of God, and your short cry has reached Him who hears the sigh of the soul in the night. The Scripture speaks of one that fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant, yet walks in darkness and has no light. This may seem strange, that a child of light should be in gloom, but it is so. We are no longer under the dominion of the Prince of Darkness, for he that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has passed from darkness to light, yet with the darkness of trouble and perplexity we are sometimes surrounded. At such times we do not rejoice in the light of His countenance, though we may still trust in the shadow of His wings.
Know this, that the true light for a soul in darkness is all in Christ. The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and that light lies not in our own doing or feeling, but in Jesus Christ alone. There is no light for any man except in Him, and until we believe in Him thick darkness will blind us. Wonders of grace belong to Christ. He comes to them that are in darkness and says, Show yourselves, rise and come out of the darkness and enjoy the light.
Therefore I would urge you to show yourself to God by a full and humble confession of sin and by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Cast your deadly doing down at Jesus feet and stand in Him, in Him alone, gloriously complete. It is through this darkness that you may be humbled and your faith exercised, that you may cut off self dependence and put more faith in Christ and less in frames and feelings.
There is hope of perfect restoration, but it is the blessed process of regeneration and sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit as you believe in Christ. He can come to you even now, though it has been long since you felt the light of His countenance, and give it all back again. As Peter was restored, not by remaining by the fire where Christ was mocked, but by going out and weeping bitterly under the sunbeam of the Saviour's look, so the Lord will turn and look upon you and light up the dark places of your nature by His own radiance.
Let us pray together that the Lord will do His gracious work in you according to His will. O Lord, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shine in this heart to give the light of the knowledge of Thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Bring this soul out of darkness into Thy marvellous light, grant repentance toward Thee and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and make this one to walk as a child of light, clean and separate from the works of darkness, obedient to Thy voice and humbled before Thee. Restore unto this soul the joy of Thy salvation and establish every step in holiness and in the light as Thou art in the light, that there may be fellowship with Thee. We ask not for our own way but for Thy perfect will to be done, and for grace to wait upon Thee till the light spring up. Amen.