G-d Is Closest in the Darkness: Finding Faith When Life Feels Hidden

During challenging times, the knowledge that G-d shares in our suffering, and that He feels our pain, can bring immense comfort and strength.

It's easy to feel G-d's presence when things are going well, but it's just as true, perhaps even more so, in the darkness, when it feels as if G-d has abandoned us. In fact, not only has He not left us, but He is even closer in those moments. When it’s dark, and when life is hard, G-d carries us in His arms.

As it says in Psalms (121:5): “The Lord is your shadow at your right hand.” Just like a shadow changes with light—when you're in bright light, the shadow is small; but as you move further from the light, the shadow grows, so too, the more darkness we experience, the greater G-d's presence becomes. He doesn’t disappear in the dark but He draws nearer.

Looking for G-d in the Right Places

A person once lost a coin and began searching for it under a streetlight. A passerby asked, “Where exactly did you lose it?” He replied, “Down the block.” “Then why are you searching here?” “Because here there’s light…”

Sometimes we do the same, and we search for G-d only in the light. If someone lost their wallet full of money in a dark room, would they not search there, because it’s dark? Of course they would—because they know with certainty that what they’re looking for is in the room. When we’re in emotional or spiritual darkness, we must search for G-d with confidence that He is right there with us.

When You Don’t Feel Him, He’s Still Watching Over You

The Song of Songs uses two metaphors:

• “He peers through the windows”

• “He looks through the cracks”

Sometimes G-d looks at us through a “window”, and we can sense His presence, His gaze, and His care. Other times, He watches us through the “cracks” and we don’t see Him, although He sees us.

In those times when His presence feels hidden, we must remember the times when we did feel Him, when we saw the miracles, the clarity, and the help. Those memories teach us that even now, when we don’t feel Him, He’s still watching, still guiding, and still loving.

In fact, when someone looks at you through a crack, they’re focusing only on you—not the surroundings, or the crowd. So too, when we feel most alone, we’re in G-d’s direct focus.

G-d Hears Us More in the Darkness

When Moses went up Mount Sinai, it says: “And Moses approached the thick cloud where G-d was.” (Exodus 20:21) G-d was inside the cloud—the fog, the mystery, the pain and that’s where He gave Moses the Torah—because G-d often reveals Himself more fully in the darkness.

In that darkness—whether the trial is big or small—a person can reach the deepest closeness to G-d, that can’t be explained, only felt. When G-d appeared to Jacob, it was at night. G-d is closest at night, when life feels dim and heavy. There is no such thing as “G-d has abandoned me.” He is always with us, even, and especially, in the dark.

G-d Wants to Speak to Us in the Struggle

When Jacob arrived at Mount Moriah (where he had the dream of the angels on the ladder), the verse says: “He encountered the place” (Genesis 28:11) The Midrash explains: “The whole world became like a wall around him.” In that moment, Jacob felt trapped, surrounded, and closed in, and that’s when he knew G-d wanted to speak with him.

The verse continues: “For the sun had set.” Night came unexpectedly. Darkness arrived early which is a sign of divine concealment. It was there, in that early night, that Jacob composed the evening prayer.

The Power of Prayers in the Dark

Evening prayer (Maariv) is unique in that it has no fixed time, unlike the morning or afternoon prayers. As the Yesmach Yisrael explained, in times of darkness, you don’t need to wait for the “right moment”. Every tear, every whisper, and every heartfelt word of prayer in the dark goes straight to Heaven.

When G-d Appears at Night

The Meshech Chochmah (a great Torah commentator) notes that G-d appeared to Jacob at night, both before he left the Land of Israel, and again before he descended to Egypt. “God said to Israel in night visions: Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt…” (Genesis 46:2–3)

Why was G-d revealed at night to Jacob but not to Abraham or Isaac? Because only Jacob was about to go into exile. G-d therefore appeared to him at night, to comfort him and to say: “Even when it feels like night—even in the darkness of exile—I am with you.”

When the Psalms speak of hardship, they say: “May G-d answer you on the day of trouble; may the name of the G-d of Jacob protect you.” (Psalms 20:2) Not “the G-d of Abraham” or “the G-d of Isaac”, but the G-d of Jacob, the one who went through the darkness of exile.

When you’re in trouble, you’re not alone. G-d is right there with you and if you cry out to Him, He will not just answer you, He will lift you up.