The Ministry of Darkness

“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light” (Matt. 10:27)

Into the dark of the shadowed home
Where sorrow has drawn the blind,
Into the dark of the lonely life
Where friendships are left behind,
Into the darkness of sorrow and pain,
Our Lord leads His children, again and again.

There He tells them secrets eternal,
Where their ear can hear each word,
For the tumults of earth had drowned His voice,
But there, His alone is heard.
And the eyes which the glare of earth made dim,
Now in the darkness behold only Him.

But we are not meant long to linger
In the darkened hours of night,
“What I tell you here in the darkness,
Speak ye in the place of light.”
You who have found Him sufficient indeed
Bear words of comfort to others in need.

Our souls need their mountains of fellowship,
Their valleys of quiet rest,
Their nights ‘neath the stars with infinite view
For a vision of God’s best;
That man who the pathway of darkness hath trod,
With light in his soul, is the man who knows God!


by Barbara C. Ryberg