One night I walked down to a bridge in a park. The stream below was quite dark. Below the shadowy surface I could see nothing. Then the Ruach said, “I create darkness as well as form light. I create calamity as well as shalom. I create the  wilderness as well as green pastures. I even create the devil with his temptations. You ask, why? Surely, you know?  Without darkness there would be no drama, no mystery, no adventure, no beauty. Without calamity, there would be no consequences, no discipline, nothing to draw My people back to Me. Without the wilderness with its thirst and hunger  and longing there would be no appreciation for the green pastures. Without the wilderness, there would be no place for  the devil to test your faith. For “I led you in the wilderness these forty years, so that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2.). Testing you, humbling you, has a purpose.

Read the full article here: Issue 34