The dark night of the soul

Luke 10. 19: I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Our Lord Jesus said this to the seventy: and yet we know that all down the ages His servants have been hurt in a thousand ways. So the words must mean, and we know they do mean, something that goes far deeper than bodily hurt, deeper even than disappointment--that hardest hurt the mind can be asked to bear.

It must mean that our spirits shall tread on serpents and scorpions, and have power over all the enemy. Nothing shall be able to sting our spirit, poison it, or paralyse it. It is one of the magnificent promises of the Bible. We cannot take it too literally. There is no need to be overcome, whatever happens. "O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength." (Judges 5. 21)

Sometimes we do not feel in the least like treading down scorpions and serpents and all the power of the enemy. Perhaps we are allowed to feel our nothingness, so that we may in the depths of our heart understand those other words "Without Me ye can do nothing." (John 15. 5) I think there was something of this in our Lord Jesus' mind, when He told the story of one who had nothing to set before his friend--not a crumb--and it was midnight. (Luke 11. 5-8) When we do not feel victorious and have nothing to give others, it is in truth "midnight" in our soul, "the dark night of the soul", old writers called it.

But we have a God to Whom we can go at any minute, the weakest minute, the darkest minute, "at midnight". "Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: Thou hast given commandment to save me; for Thou art my Rock and my Fortress." (Psa. 71. 3) --Edges of His Ways, Amy Carmichael