He abides in the silence

Recently, I came across a wonderful passage in an Adult Learner (a lesson book at church). The passage was contained in a lesson which dealt with the lonliness that we often experience as human beings.

The Divine Comforter
As a special provision, the Lord has arranged for the believer to have a lifelong Companion in the person of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-18)
He abides in the silence; He pervades the darkness. “Personal awareness of the Spirit who dwelleth in you and shall be in you” means that the believer is never alone.
The believer has available to him the means of being alone without being lonely. He can read the Word and be aware of the Holy Spirit in everyday life.

The passage struck me because the imagery is beautiful. The idea of there being a comforter who lives in a quiet place is wonderful. I would like to highlight the image - "he pervades the darkness". For me the dark is not a place that I often fear. In fact - for a time I used to love the night time -I found it to be a time of cool escape from the hot, stressful day. But there was a time when I feared the dark. When I was four my mother died suddenly. I became terrified of - well - it's hard to explain really what I was terrified of - it wasn't exactly the darkness - it was the way I felt mostly at night - I felt as though my back was exposed to the world.. to something out there.
and I know there are many who feel this way - not just at four but at twenty four, at forty-four.
So when I read that line, I remembered how I felt about the night - both the negative and the positive feelings. And I realised that the Holy Spirit which abides with us, is with us during both of those nights. He abides when we seek rest and comfortingly, He abides with us through the darkest and most difficult nights.

(heart) Tulip


(Passage John 14:16-18:16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.)