When God gives us a vision, he puts us, so to speak, in the shadow of his hand. There is a darkness that comes from too much light, and this is the time to listen. Thirteen years of silence passed between visions God sent Abraham, but in that time Abraham’s selfishness and self-sufficiency were destroyed and he was transformed into the man God wanted him to be, a man worthy of being called the father of many nations (Genesis 17). Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not punishment.
Whenever God sends you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God is remaking you in the image of what he has shown you: “Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God” (Isaiah 50:10).
Am I trusting entirely in the name of the Lord, or is my confidence in myself and other people? Is it in books and prayers and ecstasies, or is it in God himself? The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. Until we know this, the vision will not come to pass. After we know it, everything that seemed so real to us before—books and prayers, other people’s words and actions—will become as shadows. Nothing can disturb the one who is built on God.
