What is the Dark Night of the Spirit?

Our “Root System”

There seems to be two aspects to the dark night. The dark night of the soul is where God focuses on our “outward man” and what we do, whereas, the dark night of the spirit is where God focuses on our “inward man” and who we are.

[Now, it’s important to understand that God cannot be “boxed in” and that He will act upon each of us in His own way. In other words, He will perform His own individual will in each of our lives as He sees fit. First Corinthians 12:11 tells us that God gives gifts “severally as He will” and I believe, it’s the same with His plans for our lives. He accomplishes them as He alone knows best.]

The difference between the two nights can be seen in the analogy of the fire and the log. In the first night (soul), the fire simply blackens the log, whereas, in the second night (spirit) the fire actually consumes the log. In the dark night of the spirit, God goes after our human nature itself. He exposes our “root systems”—all of our preconceived belief systems, our secret habits, our hidden motives and all of our self-centered ways. God wants these things exposed and eliminated also.

Very often we are hindered from a life of freedom in the Spirit, because of what we think and perceive down deep. Much of what we “do” is based upon what we “believe.” Our belief system not only under girds and supports every thought and feeling that we have, it also influences every action we take. Thus, if we want to change our behavior, we must discover what untruths we are believing. Once we can expose, acknowledge and replace these, then our behavior will change automatically. For example, if we believe that God manifests His Love towards us by allowing only “good and wonderful” things to happen in our lives, then when something “bad” occurs, our belief system will tell us that God does not love us anymore. Therefore, it’s imperative that we exchange the lies of our natural, soulish ways for God’s absolute truth.

So, it’s not necessarily sin that God is focusing on in this second dark night (most people at this stage already love God and already are walking in fear of Him), but on our human nature itself—our natural self-orientation, self-reliance and self-love and all our “natural habits” that do not reflect Him. These are the kinds of things that God wants to expose and eliminate, because these are the attitudes that so often lead us to sin (and become the “roots” of our sin). So, the dark night of the spirit is where God fractures our inner being and strips us of our inward and sometimes hidden soulish ways.

Job is a perfect example of this. He was already daily confessing his sin when God allowed horrendous things to happen in his life. God even comments in the beginning of the book that Job was a “righteous man.” He was “perfect” and “upright” and “one who feared God.” (Job 1:8) But, in the suffering and dark night that God allowed into his life Job died to his religious ways, his domestic affections, his rigid theology and his misconstrued views of God, all of which hindered his spiritual union with God.

The dark night of the spirit is the actual working out of Hebrew 4:12. It’s God’s way of dividing our soul from our spirit. It’s the gradual penetration of God’s spirit through the levels of our soul down to its innermost hidden depths. In this night, God forces us to look at things that we really don’t see as in conflict with God: our reason, our hopes, our affections, our views, our zeal, our narrow culture, our creeds, our senses, our religious experiences and our spiritual comforts. These are some of the belief systems that often feed our pride and our ego and our self-life.

These habits and self-centered ways of ours will never change, unless God exposes them and uproots them. Again, these attitudes are not necessarily sin, but simply the result of being who we are—human. These “natural ways” come from our upbringing, from the influence of others in our life, from our preconceived value systems, from our habits and from our self-oriented thought processes. This “humanness” will never go away; it will always be there. It’s called the flesh. Nevertheless, God wants to expose it to us, so that we will recognize it and choose to crucify it at the cross. In order to enter the Holy Place of our hearts where God dwells not only must sin be dealt with, but also self must be crucified. Then, and only then, can we be filled with the “fulness of God” and begin to bear much fruit for the kingdom.

Examples of Our Self-centered Ways

God wants us to intimately know Him, not only in our soul (where we experience His Life flowing through us), but also in our spirit (where we will experience His presence). In order to accomplish this, He must not only expose all the “things we do” that are “not of faith” (i.e., our sin), but He must also expose all of our “self-centered ways” (who we are). These natural “ways” even though they are not considered sin, must be rooted out because they are the belief systems and the foundation upon which we build our lives. If not crucified, they not only can quench God’s Spirit in us, but they also can prevent our intimacy with Him.

God wants all our self-interest, pettiness, spite, revenge, cruelty, foolishness, egotism, possessiveness, addictions and selfishness removed. These self-centered ways not only affect our communication with God, they also obviously affect our communication with others. Until these things are purged from our soul, we cannot have the union with Him that we so long for. We must become detached from all our self-centered thoughts, hopes, plans, yearning, preferences, sorrows, disappointment, praise, blame, success, failure and comforts, and dead to all desires but those of God. As Lamentations 3:40 encourages us, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”

Some examples of natural, self-centered ways are:

• Presumption. Presumption is a preconceived belief about certain things, events or people. Presumption, in itself, is obviously not sin. It’s a very important part of our human nature. However, presumption can often be very self-centered and based on falsehoods that, if not dealt with, can lead us to disillusionment and bitterness, which is sin and which will separate us from God.
• Expectation. Expectation is very closely related to presumption. Expectation is a future hope in things, events or people. Again, we all have expectations; it’s characteristic of our own self-centered human nature. Expectation, in itself, is not sin. However, if our expectations are not fulfilled in the way we think they should be, they can lead to disappointment and doubt, which can end up quenching God’s Spirit.
• Disappointment. Disappointment is the failure to satisfy our own self-centered presumptions and expectations. Disappointment, again, in itself is not sin. But if disappointment is not caught and taken care of (given to God), it, too, can lead to bitterness, resentment and depression which, of course, will block God’s Spirit in us.
• Comparing. Another characteristic of our human self-centered nature is making comparisons. This, too, is one of man’s inbred, natural ways and, in itself, not sin. However, if not caught and given over to God, it, too, can open our senses (our soul) up to hurt, envy and jealousy. And these will quench God’s Spirit in us.
• Loneliness. It’s certainly not a sin to be lonely. God has created the need for companionship in our human nature. As the Bible says, we were created for companionship and for love. But if we allow loneliness to consume us and rule our thoughts and emotions, it can lead to soulish manipulation and control, which again will quench God’s Spirit in us.

There are impurities inside of us that actually rule us without our knowledge. These ambitions, hopes, dreams, goals, desires, expectations and presumptions are beliefs, values and habits that sometimes we are not even aware of. However, they are often the pre-programmed responses upon which we build our lives. Therefore, it’s vital that God expose and reveal these things to us, so that we can recognize them and surrender them to Him. Then, our spirit can be sanctified, freed and enabled to lead, direct and guide us in God’s ways. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and [then] lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

We might be able to fool other people on the outside by doing “good works,” but if our spirit is tainted by any self-centeredness or self-love, it’s going to be “wood, hay [and] stubble” in God’s eyes. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but [only] the Lord weigheth the hearts [or ponders the heart].” (Proverbs 21:2) Only God can see and know our hearts and only He knows our true motives and intents.