Why does the dark night of the soul happen? Heroes of the faith like Job, David, and believers throughout time have wondered this. It’s part of the human condition to want to walk in the light and to experience the fullness of joy all the time.  As believers, we know the joy that comes from walking closely with the Lord and we want to continue in that always. So it can feel bewildering, as if God himself has pulled the rug out from under you, all the while standing there holding it up, taunting you mercilessly. But when we realize that the dark night of the soul is not capricious cruelty, but love and an invitation to deep intimacy with him, it is so much easier to bear.

What Causes the Dark Night of the Soul?

Simply put, God does. It is nothing that you did or didn’t do.  You are not being punished. There’s nothing you can do to avoid it. God brings believers into a season of the dark night of the soul for his good purposes – and for our good.

It isn’t mere difficulty or hardship. My husband and I endured more than a decade of financial hardship, three miscarriages, trauma, and loss while feeling spiritually nurtured and growing in our relationship with God. These difficult circumstances deepened our faith, resulted in our spiritual maturing, and helped us to know him in ever increasing ways. The dark night of the soul is a sort of spiritual death and rebirth. It puts to death our illusions about God, as Alicia Britt Chole explains in her book The Night is Normal.  

Did Jesus Experience a Dark Night of the Soul?

Jesus experienced the dark night of the soul in the Garden of Gethsemane as he labored in prayer, beseeching God to let the cup of death pass from him.  

There’s so much that could be said here, but two things stand out to me most. First, Jesus experienced utter separation, but we won’t. The dark night of the soul is excruciating. It feels like you have been abandoned, but because Jesus promised to be with us always, we will never experience utter separation from God. Second, Jesus is our model. He tells us that as his disciples, we are not above our master. So, if he experienced a dark night of the soul, we probably will, too.  

What to Expect in the Dark Night

Each believer’s experience will be different in the dark night of the soul because God has a specific purpose for each believer’s journey through it. 

In my own journey through the dark night, God left clues for me that it was coming. He also lovingly let me know through other believers’ counsel, that it was going to feel like a very long time, but there would be something at the end. It went on for two years, and the one thing that kept me holding on were those words – “there will be something in the end.”

• Expect to wait. God is working something out in you through the circumstances you are in. 
• Expect to endure trials.
• Expect to feel distant from God, at least for a time.
• Expect to find no joy in the Christian activities you formerly loved.  
• Expect to feel anxious about being a bad Christian or that you will abandon your faith.
• Expect to feel alone. Shame makes us want to hide, so we isolate and don’t tell others of our struggle.
• Expect to feel confused. Is it a dark night? Is a dark night even real? 

The dark night of the soul is not a pointless exercise in personal misery.  In fact, it can be the catalyst to the very things you’ve longed and prayed for.  God’s good purpose is to bring you deeper into a relationship with himself, to cut the strings to the things that keep us tethered to anything but him, and to nurture us in his love.  Rather than see it as a thing to run from, embrace God’s purposes and run to him to receive everything he wants for you in this season.

References:

“Poem: The Dark Night of the Soul,” John of the Cross 

The Night is Normal, Alicia Britt Chole

Other articles in this series:

What is the Dark Night of Soul? 

What is the Christian meaning of the Dark Night of the Soul?

Why does the Dark Night of the Soul Happen?

How to Survive the Dark Night of the Soul