The “Dark Night of the Soul” is a powerful and often painful spiritual experience — a season where God feels distant, faith feels dry, and your soul seems to walk through darkness with little comfort or clarity.
It comes from St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Spanish mystic, who described it as a necessary process of spiritual purging and growth — where God removes false attachments so the soul can grow closer to Him in purity and trust.
Here are examples of the “Dark Night of the Soul” — both biblical and modern-day, to help you understand and even relate.
🌑 Biblical Examples of the Dark Night of the Soul
1. Job
📖 Book of Job
- Job loses everything: wealth, children, health.
- God seems silent for most of the story.
- Job struggles with despair, but doesn’t abandon faith.
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)
🔹 Why it’s a dark night: Job doesn’t understand why he’s suffering. God feels distant. His faith is refined through suffering.
2. King David
📖 Psalms (especially Psalm 22, 42, 88)
- David often expresses deep anguish and isolation.
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)
🔹 Why it’s a dark night: Emotional and spiritual darkness. David cries out but feels unheard. Still, he clings to hope.
3. Elijah
📖 1 Kings 19
- After a major victory over Baal’s prophets, Elijah flees into the wilderness, exhausted and depressed.
“I have had enough, Lord… take my life.” (1 Kings 19:4)
🔹 Why it’s a dark night: Deep despair and spiritual burnout. God gently restores him—not through fire or wind, but a still small voice.
4. Jesus in Gethsemane and on the Cross
📖 Matthew 26:36–46; Matthew 27:46
- Jesus experiences sorrow to the point of death in the garden.
- On the cross, He quotes Psalm 22:
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
🔹 Why it’s the ultimate dark night: Jesus bears the full weight of sin and separation, yet surrenders fully to the Father’s will.
🌑 Modern-Day Examples of the Dark Night
1. Mother Teresa
- Wrote in letters that she experienced decades of spiritual dryness and felt abandoned by God.
- Yet, she continued to serve the poor faithfully.
“In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss—of God not wanting me—of God not being God—of God not really existing.”
(from Come Be My Light)
2. C.S. Lewis
📖 A Grief Observed
- After the death of his wife, Lewis wrote about feeling as though God had slammed the door in his face.
“Where is God? … Go to Him when your need is desperate… and what do you find? A door slammed in your face…”
3. You and Me — Ordinary Believers
Many believers experience times where:
- Prayers feel unanswered
- Bible reading feels dry
- Worship feels distant
- God seems silent
These aren’t signs of failure, but often invitations to deeper faith, to trust without feeling, and to let go of spiritual “crutches.”
🌱 Purpose of the Dark Night
Though painful, it can:
- Strip away pride, idols, or spiritual self-reliance
- Teach you to love God for who He is, not what He gives
- Deepen trust and maturity
- Prepare you for greater ministry or intimacy
🕯️ Hope in the Darkness
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” — Psalm 30:5
“The dark night is not the end—it is the threshold to union with God.” — St. John of the CrossThat’s a profound and deeply moving theme — Jesus’ Dark Night of the Soul is a powerful way to explore His humanity, suffering, and intimacy with the Father during moments of silence, sorrow, and abandonment. It invites us to find hope when we experience our own dark nights.
Jesus’ Dark Night of the Soul
Theme: When God feels silent, He is still present. Even Jesus walked through the dark.
Key Scriptures:
- Matthew 26:36–46 – Gethsemane: Jesus’ agony in prayer
- Matthew 27:46 – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
- Hebrews 5:7–9 – Jesus learned obedience through suffering
- Isaiah 53:3 – “A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief…”
What Is the “Dark Night of the Soul”?
- A term from Christian mysticism (St. John of the Cross), describing a season of spiritual dryness, abandonment, or inner darkness — yet one that leads to deeper union with God.
- Jesus, fully God yet fully human, experienced a dark night — not because He lacked faith, but because He fully entered into our human suffering.
Reflection Points:
1. Gethsemane: Crushing of the Soul
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…” (Matt. 26:38)
- Jesus knew pain, fear, and loneliness.
- He asked for the cup to pass — and still submitted.
Jesus knew pain fear and loneliness…he asked for the cup to be taken away
Have You ever felt overwhelmed in spirit? What do you do with this kind of sorrow?
2. On the Cross: The Silence of God
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46)
- Jesus quotes Psalm 22, voicing both despair and trust.
- Even in the silence, He directs His cry to the Father.
Question:
Have you experienced a time when God felt distant? What did you learn in that silence?
3. What We Learn from Jesus’ Suffering
- Suffering is not a sign of separation — it may be where God is most present, though hidden.
- Jesus’ dark night led to resurrection — the darkness is not the end.
Encouragement for Your Own Dark Nights:
- You are not alone. Jesus understands.
- You are not abandoned. God is near, even when silent.
- You are being formed. Trust grows in the dark.
- You are not hopeless. Resurrection follows Gethsemane.
🙏 Prayer of Trust in the Dark
“Lord Jesus, You know what it is to feel sorrow, abandonment, and silence. When I walk through my own dark night, help me cling to You. Even when I can’t feel You, help me trust that You are near — shaping me, holding me, and leading me to resurrection life. Amen.”
Here is a heartfelt prayer for someone walking through a Dark Night of the Soul — when God feels distant, and yet the soul still reaches out in quiet trust.
🙏 Prayer in the Dark Night of the Soul
O God who hides, yet never leaves,
I do not feel You.
I do not hear You.
But I still believe You are near.
I walk through shadows,
Not of sin, but of silence.
Not of rebellion, but of refining.
You have drawn me deeper—into mystery, into stillness.
I miss the warmth of Your voice,
The joy of Your touch,
The sweetness of Your presence.
But I trust that even in this silence,
You are working.
Teach me to love You
Not for comfort, but for who You are.
To follow You not for blessings,
But because You are worthy.
Purify my love.
Strip away every false image, every shallow hope.
Let the fire burn—but do not let it destroy.
Make it holy.
I will wait.
I will watch.
I will whisper “yes,” even when all is dark.
For even the night is light to You.
Even silence speaks in Your language.
And even when I feel nothing—
Still, I am Yours.
In the name of Jesus, who walked through His own dark night for me,
Amen.
📖 “Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” — Psalm 139:12
📖 “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” — Psalm 22:1 / Matthew 27:46
Poem titled “Dark Night of the Soul”, written to capture the aching silence, the hidden grace, and the deep inner transformation that happens in this sacred and often misunderstood season.
🌑 Dark Night of the Soul
— A poem of spiritual longing and hidden hope —
I walked a path with no sunrise,
No moon to light the way,
Where silence filled the heavens,
And night swallowed the day.
No answer met my weeping,
No whisper calmed my cries,
My prayers returned in echoes,
As stars hid from the skies.
The joy I once had tasted
Felt distant, dim, and far—
Like ashes from a fire
Where once there burned a star.
I questioned where You vanished,
Why love felt cold and still—
Yet deeper than my doubting,
You held me in Your will.
For in this hollow aching,
This sacred, stripped-down place,
You cleared away the clinging things
That dulled my need for grace.
No longer seeking feelings,
Or comfort on demand—
I learned to love You silently,
And hold Your unseen hand.
For faith is not just firelight,
And hope is more than sight.
Sometimes You are the closest
When hidden in the night.
So let the dark enfold me,
I’ll trust though shadows roll—
For You are still the Lover
Of this dark and longing soul.
📖 “To you, the night shines as bright as day.” — Psalm 139:12
📖 “I will give you the treasures of darkness.” — Isaiah 45:3
Absolutely. Here’s a heartfelt devotional titled:
🌑 Devotional: The Dark Night of the Soul
Theme: God is closest when He feels farthest.
📖 Scripture:
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
— Matthew 27:46
💬 Reflection:
We often think that walking closely with God will feel warm, bright, and peaceful. But sometimes, the path of faith leads through shadow. There are seasons when the sky goes silent, prayer feels empty, and God seems absent.
Jesus Himself walked through that darkness.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, He cried out in agony. On the cross, He shouted words of forsakenness. Yet in both places, He still called out to His Father — not because He felt God, but because He trusted Him, even in silence.
The dark night of the soul is not a punishment; it’s an invitation to deeper intimacy — to love God not for what He gives, but for who He is.
You may feel like your prayers are falling flat. You may wonder if God sees you, hears you, or cares. But silence is not absence. Hiddenness is not abandonment. He is still with you — forming your faith in the shadows.
🔄 What God Might Be Saying:
“I see you. I haven’t left. I’m doing a deep work in your soul — the kind that doesn’t need words, only trust.”
🙏 Prayer:
God, I feel the weight of silence. I long to sense Your nearness. But even when I don’t, I choose to trust You. You are my God in the light and in the dark. Teach me to rest, even when I can’t see. Remind me that resurrection always follows the night. Amen.
🪔 Takeaway Thought:
Faith isn’t proven in the light — it’s forged in the dark.