There was a song back when I was a teen that had the line I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden and there is also a line in a hymn that goes something like this, and shall we go to heaven on flowery beds of ease. Both of these songs bring to light what Jesus said when He said in this world ye shall have tribulation(John16:33). There are times in all of our lives when we are said to be walking in the darkness of feeling (which by the way is opposed to faith) imposed upon us by the sovereign will of God. He sends darkness in the form of the absence of comfort in any of the familiar comforts we enjoyed before the darkness came. To quote J.C. Philpot, "To walk in darkness then is to feel light removed, hope faded away, faith at its last gasp, love withered out of the heart, God absent, salvation despaired of, evidences lost, ancient landmarks gone, anchorage failed, comfort changed into mourning, and peace into despondency. It is to be tossed up and down on a sea of doubts and fears, and to wander here and there amidst fogs of confusion and mists of perplexity." He goes on and on with phrase after phrase describing the nature of this darkness. One would be well instructed to read his sermon The Heir of Heaven Walking in Darkness and The Heir of Hell Walking in Light. It is also said that this one who is in this darkness has no light, which we are not to understand as being the total absence of light but the absence of shining light. It is the same thing as having the Shekinah glory and not having the Shekinah glory. In this state of the absence of shining light the poor soul has lost the joy of his salvation. This whole state of darkness is the state depicted for us in the Song of Songs chapter 5 and verse 6 which says, "I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn Himself and was gone: my soul failed when He spake: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called, but He gave me no answer". This is a necessary fact for all of us who are the children of God, so that we might be taught not to be presumptuous and be taught to love the presence of the Lord in our lives more perfectly. In due time (the time the Lord has appointed) the Lord will bring back the light the bright shining light of His presence, but until then we must and will trust in the Lord and we will camp before the Living and True God.