ALL THAT NIGHT David Davis, Kehilat HaCarmel
“…the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night” (Ex. 14:21).
God works in the night seasons. He is working in our darkest hours. There is no night or day to Him. “The darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Ps. 139:12). We may see no evidence yet, but if you are abiding in Him you will see His miraculous deliverance. At the Red Sea crossing the next day, it was revealed what God had been doing “all that night.”
Deliverance at Midnight
“And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:29). Passover dramatically demonstrates to us how God often rescues His people at their darkest hour. Pharaoh “called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, ‘Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said’ ” (v. 31). For Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that first Passover night was a night of bloodshed and horror. For the children of Israel, God passed over them because the blood of a lamb covered their doorways. They obeyed the Lord and experienced a “night like no other.”
God Works the Night Shift
We have a neighbor who works at night. Sometimes, when I am going out early in the morning, my friend is just coming home after working all night. All through the Scriptures we can observe this wonderful truth that God works at night. In fact, often when we are asleep, God is working for us!
It was in the night time that God cut covenant with Abram. “Now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold a horror of great darkness fell upon him” (Gen. 15:12). Through the darkness surrounding Abram, the Lord came down as a “smoking oven and a burning torch” (v. 17). As Abram slept God covenanted His eternal promises to him and his offspring concerning the land of Canaan and the nation of Israel (see v. 18-19). This historic, prophetic, world-changing moment happened at night!
Jacob’s Ladder
God also appeared to Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, while he slept. The Lord spoke to His fugitive patriarch in a dream in which a ladder reached from earth to heaven. “And behold the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants’ ” (Gen. 28:13). God works the “night shift” – often working out His purposes which we don’t yet see.
The Darkest Hour
As Yeshua celebrated His last Passover in Jerusalem, He instituted the New Covenant in His blood at a traditional Passover meal. Later as Yeshua hung on the cross “there was darkness over all the earth… then the sun was darkened” (Luke 23:44-45). Even as it appeared that the powers of darkness had triumphed, suddenly the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world had made access for us into the Holy of Holies. Now all who embrace His perfect sacrifice can enter into the presence of God through His atoning blood.
While It Was Still Dark
“Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark” (John 20:1). It was a new day as the risen Savior spoke to her, “Mary” (v. 16).
Do your circumstances seem dark and confusing? Perhaps you are experiencing no spiritual breakthrough in yourself or in someone you have been praying for. Put your trust in Him. Yeshua said: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how” (Mark 4:26-27). Keep sowing! Keep praying! God is working in your night seasons.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).