When the Darkness Will Not Lift
Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy · John Piper
About this book
When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy
Some Christians walk through long seasons of spiritual darkness in which joy seems to stay out of reach. In this short book John Piper offers guidance and hope for them—and for those who love them. Standing on the rock of justification by faith alone, he shows that seasons of darkness are normal, that waiting is not idleness, that unconfessed sin and creeping self-absorption can feed the gloom, and that God often lifts the darkness through friends who will not give up—as John Newton would not give up on William Cowper.
Author: John Piper
Publisher: Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois
Published: 2006 (first printing 2007) · © Desiring God Foundation
Web edition: UECF.NET Study Companion, 2026
- 9 sections
- 6 chapters + Introduction
- 80 pages in print
- ≈ 48 min read
- English
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Table of Contents
When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy, by John Piper. Crossway Books, 2006.Introduction: Faith Alone and the Fight for Joy
Why a small book on spiritual darkness begins with the doctrine of justification by faith alone—the rock beneath every Christian who fights for joy.Chapter 1: The Darkness of Melancholy
Genuine Christians do pass through darkness—for many reasons, including physical ones. How the old pastors, and a wise modern reader, weigh body and soul together.Chapter 2: Waiting in Darkness, We Are Not Lost and Not Alone
Seasons of darkness are normal in the Christian life. David’s pit, the cry “How long?”, and the ground of assurance when we cannot even see our own faith.Chapter 3: Fold Not the Arms of Action
Waiting is not idleness. Doing what we can is often God’s appointed remedy for despair—but never “just” duty, because joy itself is part of our duty.Chapter 4: Does Unconfessed Sin Clog Our Joy?
Cherished, unconfessed sin can prolong darkness. Confession to God and to one another is sweet freedom—and the devil, given his due but no more, cannot abide the light of truth.Chapter 5: The Darkness That Feeds on Self-Absorption
Some darkness is fed by a life that has quietly shrunk to ourselves. Isaiah 58, Bill Leslie’s watered garden, and the joy that overflows—or dies.Chapter 6: Loving Those Who Cannot See the Light
Most people come out of the dark night because God sends unwavering lovers of Christ who do not give up on them. John Newton, William Cowper, and a legacy of severe mercy.About the Author, Sources & Permissions
John Piper and Desiring God; the writers the book draws upon; and how this web edition relates to the original.
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