“The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil.” Yes, I hate to say it, difficult to digest, but even evil can be an instrument in the hand of God. —2 Corinthians 12:7 “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Paul did NOT have a thorn in his flesh, he was GIVEN the thorn. Sometimes God will remove His hedge of protection not to kill us but to protect us from ourselves. He will use the darkness, the thorns, the messengers of Satan, send the storm and chaos, if and when He pleases, and how He sees fit for our own good. He gives Satan power over our lives, for a moment and a season. —Job 1:12 “The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but not the man himself do not lay a finger on him.” What does one do, what can one do, when God in His Sovereignty permits Satan to unleash wicked havoc in our lives? Will we still love God? What do we do, what should we do, in such anguishing moments? -Job 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Yes, he spoke out in his pain. -Job 7:11 “Therefore, I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…” Why? —Job 6:4 “The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.” —Job 16:12 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me.” —Job 19:10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me;…” —Job 30-19:21 He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes. I stand up, but you merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly; with the night of your hand you attack me.” What do you do when God turns on you and you don’t know why? Who should you turn to? HIM. —Job 19:25-27 “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” Even when Job realized that God permitted the darkness, he still yearned for Him. And in the end he saw Him. —Job 42:5 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” In the end, Job Chapter 42, he ended up getting twice more than he possessed before the darkness God had permitted in his life. What darkness has God permitted in your life? Why? The answer is different for each of us, but one thing remains the same. If we stay with Him and look up to Him in the darkness, WE WILL SEE HIM.