He endured some major disappointments in his life. Here is what he wrote during this time in his life:
"I can only write down this simple testimony. Like all, I love and prefer the sunny uplands of experience when health, happiness and success abound, but I have learned more about God, life and myself in the darkness of fear and failure than I have ever learned in the sunshine. There are such things as the treasure of darkness. The darkness, thank God, passes, but what one learns in the darkness one possesses forever."
Last April Time Magazine had a cover story entitled, "Finding God in the Dark." The story made reference to the acclaimed Episcopalian preacher and author Barbara Brown Taylor. She observed that God appeared to Abraham in the night. The exodus from Egypt happened at night. God came to Moses in the thick darkness on Mount Sinai to hand down the Ten Commandments. The conversion of Paul happened after he lost his sight. Jesus was born beneath a star. He was resurrected in the darkness of a cave. (April 28, 2014)
Her point is that we sometimes find God in the darkness of our lives. We sometimes find true faith and courage in the shadows of life.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119. An interesting verse in the chapter reads, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statues." (Psalm 119:71)
It is true. What we learn in the darkness can last a lifetime.