The Dark Night of the Soul and Denman and Vallie Phillips

Denman H. Phillips and Vallie Mae Davies
Originally uploaded by brotherdan44.

Last Sunday we made the trek to my parents graves in McDonough, Georgia, to place flowers on them.

Recently,I have been studying the book of Job. Of particular interest is how Job felt so depressed, lost, and without hope. The Dark Night of the Soul is another way of saying it to me.

I have been through the Dark Night several times, but no time greater than at the death of my father on June 12, 1980. He was young, only 60. He had retired less than a year earlier from a demanding job and had freedom for the first time. We were looking forward to a vacation together as a family, the first one is many years. Then, he had a detached retina. Simple surgery they said. But his gigantic heart stopped beating. He was brain dead. A month later we buried him.

I know how Job felt. During a period of several months after my father's death I could not pray. I could not even utter a word toward God. And I could not read the Bible. It seemed so foreign to my mindset. Most importantly, I could not even approach God or sense him speaking to me at all. Isn't that Job?

When his friends comforted him by saying, "Ask God to forgive your sins," all he could say was, "If I summonded Him, he would not pay any attention, he would just batter me with another whirlwind." (Job 9:16) That is how I felt during that time and it is still a remembrance as I stand by my parent's graves. Don't we all remember the Dark Nights of the Soul?

Have you ever been through the Dark Night of the Soul?