INTRODUCTION TO THOUGHT NUGGETS
By Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, PhD

 


SONGS IN THE DARK

(A Background) 

“No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in a wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have ‘learned in suffering what they taught in song.’…Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He puts them in the fire.” -- George MacDonald (1824-1905).

Indeed, the pain from my own self-inflicted wounds of failure has given me a new perspective on life—a perspective I now wish to share with my friends on a regular basis.  I call these perspectives “Songs in the Dark” or thought nuggets. The “Songs in the Dark” are the result of my reflection on Scripture and life experiences. The phrase owes its origin to the words of E.G. White on how birds are taught to sing: 

 “In the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage, and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark, he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward” (Ministry of Healing, 472).

Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest says pretty much the same thing:

"At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God's hand until we learn to hear Him. 'What I tell you in darkness,'--watch where God puts you into darkness, and when you are there keep your mouth shut. Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? Then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will talk in the wrong mood: darkness is the time to listen. Don't talk to other people about it; don't read books to find out the reason of the darkness, but listen and heed. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light."

If you find any of my “Songs in the Dark” useful, take a moment to pay gratitude to your own pain or suffering. If you listen closely, you may hear God speaking to you through the pain. Take time to learn your song in the dark. Afterwards, you will be brought to the limelight to sing—again.  --SKP