I’m Out of Breath!

I’m out of breath!! Metaphorically speaking. Keeping pace with the unfolding catalogue of world events is exhausting, as well as potentially frightening.

In the midst of so many cataclysmic events, so much corporate trauma and spiritual darkness, the enemy tempts God’s people to give up – give up praying, give up walking with God, give up believing. It’s not surprising that when talking about such times that Jesus warned “many will turn away from the faith” (Matthew 24:10). We may long for revival, but our fallen humanity cries out, What’s the point? How can my life make one scrap of difference in a world that is helter-skeltering towards spiritual and even physical oblivion?

In circumstances like this, fear of the unknown can strike at the heart of the believer if, even for a moment, they are tempted to take their eyes off Jesus.

Lilias Trotter, the woman whose life inspired Helen Lemmel to write one of the most anointed hymns ever sung, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus”, said:

“Believe, in the darkness, what you have seen in the light.”

Lilias wasn’t just writing this from the comfortable safety of her former English home in Victorian London, but during forty years of missionary sacrifice in the hardest and darkest possible spiritual environment of Islam-dominated Algeria! She knew first-hand what it was like to follow Jesus into the darkness and serve Him there!

As a young woman, she was destined for greatness as an artist. John Ruskin, one of the greatest names in the world of Victorian art, said of her: “if she could devote herself to art, she would be the greatest living painter and do things that would be immortal.” But, instead, she left the art world behind and devoted herself to Jesus.

In London, she was one of the volunteers helping new converts in the London missions of the evangelist D.L.Moody. God spoke to her about North Africa and, even though in poor health, and considered by others to be unfit for missionary service, she obeyed God, recruited two lady helpers and arrived in Algiers not knowing a word of Arabic, but with a heart burning for the people of Algeria.

Her 40 years of service is an amazing story. In the darkness of Algerian Africa, Jesus, who was the light of her world, used her to penetrate the darkness of Islam with His reflected light. Ruskin’s ‘prophecy’ that “her work would be immortal” was fulfilled in a way that he could never have understood or dreamt of! “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” has impacted millions of lives with immortal blessings!

Her century old challenge – to believe, in the darkness, what you have seen is the light – comes to us today with a penetrating significance which should stir the spirit of every believer who looks at the world and is tempted to give up. For, although Jesus warned that many would fall away, He also said that because of the very darkness that caused many to stumble, there would be many who would seek out the Light and find faith as the Kingdom of God is preached in the whole world (Matthew 24:14).

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12)

Even as I write this Blog I am being deeply challenged in my own heart. The darkness is not to be feared but to be welcomed! For, in the darkness, the light shines ever brighter. The words of Helen Lemmel’s hymn are not the simplistic nonsense that the world might describe them as, but the most profound truth that we can ever know:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace”

When we have sung these words, at many conferences down the years, the anointing of God has come down in abundance, people have been challenged and changed by His presence. The healing power of God has transformed lives and they have discovered that, in Jesus, they have a hope and a future and a calling under God to go into the darkness, holding the light of truth dear to their hearts, seeking out those who are hungry for the living God. Revival comes when those who are holding the Light penetrate the darkness.

My prayer as I write these words is that you will not look at the darkness in fear, but keep your spiritual eyes focused on Jesus, and venture into the darkness with hope in your heart and expectation that the light of Jesus will penetrate the darkness, and that you will be a reflector of His truth into a very hurting and broken world.

                                                                                           Copyright © Peter Horrobin 2025.