Isaiah 50:10: Your Thoughts When You Walk in Darkness

Introduction

"Who among you fears Yahweh, and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God" (Isaiah 50:10, WEB). Peter Masters, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, devotes this message to the life of the mind in down times.

These are the moments when your feelings no longer want to cooperate, when joy seems to have faded, when trial, hardship or grief weighs on you. The older writers and the Puritans spoke of "spiritual desertions." That word is too strong today, the preacher explains, but a whole range of down times can come, and will come, in the life of a believer.

Before reading verse 10, Peter Masters goes back to the beginning of the passage. There the prophet speaks of his own experience, and through it he shows you how to think when the light withdraws.

Message Outline

1. A Word for the One Who Is Weary

• In verse 4 the prophet says: "The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary." He knows he will receive passages meant to comfort oppressed believers, who wait a long time for the tide to turn.
• The word translated "weary" does not only mean tired. It covers the whole range of difficulties and troubles that bring us low.
• From verse 5 on, Isaiah speaks about himself. He tells how God dealt with him, in order to show you how God will deal with you.

2. Look Back: The Day God Opened Your Ear

• "The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear" (verse 5). The prophet may be going back to his own conversion. In any case, this verse recalls yours.
• It was an extraordinary day: things that had seemed uninteresting and meaningless became vital. You began to listen and to read differently. Where you had been hard, you became reachable, able to melt. It was God who opened your eyes and bent your will.
• "I was not rebellious." There were still battles within you, but at the core of your being you could no longer rebel. You could no longer brush these things aside as ridiculous.
• "I have not turned back." It was not a five-minute impression: it lasted. You kept coming back for more.
• The advice is clear: if you are walking in darkness, do as Isaiah did. Think back to those days when God began his work in you and all things became new. Let your heart warm up and become thankful again. It was not you, nor your natural inclination, it was exactly the opposite.

3. The Price to Pay and the Face Like a Flint

• "I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair" (verse 6). The prophet has begun his ministry and he is paying the price.
• It was the same for you: what was embarrassing yesterday, you had to tell your father, your mother, your sister or your brother. People mocked you and told you it would pass. But you held firm, because it had become the most important thing.
• "For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint" (verse 7). The prophet found God's promises very quickly.
• You too, by the work of the Spirit, have found a firmness within you to stand up for the Lord without giving up. God gave you faith to believe his promises. That faith may have been swept aside at times, but it was placed there by a divine hand. It is the foundation.

4. The One Who Justifies You Is Near

• "He is near who justifies me; who will contend with me?" (verse 8). The apostle Paul takes up these verses almost word for word in Romans 8. Those great words begin here, from the pen of the prophet.
• You were aware that God was near and you were not afraid: "Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he who will condemn me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment. The moths will eat them up" (verse 9).
• Peter Masters asks: does that make you sad? Those who mock you are lost souls, as you once were. They will grow old, lose their influence and approach death with God's judgment before them, unless we can lead them to repentance.
• It is in this context, looking back and believing the promises, that verse 10 arrives.

5. Why the Light Can Withdraw

• Verse 10 undoubtedly speaks of a believer. You fear Yahweh: you respect him, you obey him, you fear offending him, losing his smile or his favor, and you fear his discipline, however kind it may be. And yet you walk in darkness. Joy in the Lord has faded and does not return.
• Is it discipline? If so, it will not be a mystery. There is no discipline from the Lord without prior warning, exhortation and pleading. The letter to the Hebrews shows the progression: from the simplest exhortation to a sharper rebuke, then to the Father's discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11).
• God is not a bad earthly parent who punishes without the child knowing why. When discipline comes, you know what you are doing, you know that you are not correcting it and that you are resisting.
• But that is not necessarily the reason. The Lord may withdraw the sense of his nearness because that experience was beginning to take the place of faith: "I go forward because I feel the Lord's joy," and you become self-confident, no longer depending on him. Lessening that felt awareness brings you back to leaning on him.
• God may also want to bring you to a much deeper level of prayer and dependence. Nothing brings you back to prayer like the withdrawal of joy, peace and light.

6. When the Heart Will Not Follow, Your Mind Can Still Act

• "Never forget this: when the feelings are not working, you can still function 100% in the spiritual life with your mind, by faith." It is not as pleasant as feeling assured, but it is a perfectly valid spiritual activity.
• Today you may feel nothing. But with your mind you can still praise God, thank him, worship him for his attributes, his mighty deeds, his goodness and his love. You can repent. You can affirm a great truth read in your Bible, meditate on it and praise him for it.
• Intercede for others. Intercession often begins to bring the heart back to life. The preacher mentions a psalm in which David begins in sadness and ends with a revived heart.
• Pastors, elders, deacons, longtime believers or new ones, all know seasons when clouds veil the sun. Then we love God with the mind: this is naked faith. Calvin, in his commentary on the first letter to the Thessalonians, points out that this is probably the finest quality of prayer, without the crutch of feelings, and that it is very precious to the Lord.
• Verse 10 does not say to go and see a counselor, or even a pastor, or to turn on the television or look for a distraction. Receiving sympathy does you good, but that is not what the text encourages. It says: "let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God."
• To rely is like a prop against a wall that might fall: the prop bears the weight and keeps the wall standing. The preacher thinks of the great brick buttresses built at the back of some houses on a street he knows. You place your whole weight and your cares on your God, with your mind, through trust. The blessings of chapter 51 follow.

7. Comforted to Comfort, Strengthened for What Comes Next

• Peter Masters ends in 2 Corinthians 1: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (verses 3-4).
• The Greek word translated "affliction" comes from a verb meaning to press. It is the moment when you feel crushed, hemmed in by circumstances, humanly tempted to give up.
• The first reason for these pressures: to be equipped to comfort others with the strength and comfort you have received. As the sufferings of Christ abound, comfort abounds too (verse 5).
• Paul describes the tribulation that happened in Asia: "we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life" (verse 8). He does not say what it was. He received within himself the sentence of death "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (verse 9).
• The second reason: the earlier deliverance proves to you that God can deliver you, so that next time you will be half as afraid. "Who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us" (verse 10).
• "It is not for me alone. It must not stop with me." The trial may be a rebuke (and you will know it), a restraint because you had launched in good faith into something that was not God's calling, a deepening, a discovery of his grace and of his power to answer prayer. But above all it can make you a blessing to others and strengthen you for the next step, which will surely come, because you are the enemy of the devil and his armies, of the world and of the flesh.
• His conclusion: expect difficulties, see the purpose of difficulties, look back to be encouraged, as Psalm 143 does almost from beginning to end. Lift your eyes to the Lord, his name, his character, his attributes and his ways. Choose the program of your thoughts: do not let painful things spin endlessly in your mind, they would drag you down. Change your thoughts and always look to the Lord.

Key Takeaways

• Walking in darkness is not reserved for unbelievers: Isaiah 50:10 speaks of a believer who fears Yahweh and obeys him.
• In the down time, look back: the day God opened your ear, the faith he placed in you and his promises remain the foundation.
• If the loss of joy is discipline, you will know it, because God always warns beforehand. If not, he often wants to teach you to live by faith rather than by feelings.
• When the heart will not follow, the mind can still praise, repent, affirm the truth and intercede. This prayer is precious to the Lord.
• God comforts you so that you may comfort others, and he delivers you so that you can face what comes next with less fear.

Personal Application

1. Do you remember the moment God "opened your ear"? What happened, and what can you draw from it today to warm your heart?
2. If your joy has faded, is there a warning from God that you heard and set aside?
3. Does your assurance rest on what you feel or on what God has said?
4. What truth you read recently in your Bible can you affirm and praise God for, even without feeling anything?
5. What comfort received in a past trial could you pass on this week to someone under pressure?

Verses Cited

• Isaiah 50:4-10
• Romans 8:32-34
• Hebrews 12:5-11
• 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
• Psalm 143

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "walking in darkness" mean in Isaiah 50:10?

For Peter Masters, the verse speaks of a true believer, someone who fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of his servant, but whose joy, peace and sense of God's presence have faded. The Puritans spoke of "spiritual desertions." Every believer knows such down times.

Why does God allow joy to withdraw?

It may be discipline, but then you already know it, because God always warns before he disciplines. It may also be so that you stop living on your impressions and exercise faith, to bring you to deeper prayer, to make you able to comfort others, or to prepare you for the trials ahead.

What should you do when the heart feels nothing?

Peter Masters reminds you that you can still function 100% in the spiritual life with your mind, by faith: praise God, thank him, repent, affirm the truths read in your Bible and intercede for others. Isaiah 50:10 says to trust in the name of Yahweh and to rely on your God.