The Comfort of Night: How Jesus Makes Your Dark Times All Right

By Nylse Esahc

When darkness envelopes us we are often frightened. Following one of the more poignant phrases in the Bible, at the end of John 13:30 – and it was night, Jesus begins to speak, illuminating His presence. Hereafter, as Jesus spoke, He removed the fear and foreboding surrounding His disciples. There was an urgency and a gentleness as He comforted His disciples. By His words, Jesus brought comfort to the darkness. Get to know Him, for He provides The Comfort of Night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664203969

Nylse Esahc

Nylse is a Christian wife and a mother of four who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Originally from the Bahamas, she lived in New York for many years before relocating to the West Coast. The stories of her life provide a Godly landscape for writing to encourage others on her blog at www.lifenotesencouragement.com. When she’s not busy with her family, writing, or speaking, she’s a Technology Consultant, African American Parent Advocate, and a Women’s’ Ministry leader. She’s a regular contributor to iBelieve, Beloved Women and the Regular Baptist Press Horizons Publication. She has been featured on incourage.me, and United We Prayer.

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Copyright © 2020 Nylse Esahc.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0395-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0396-9 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/26/2020

CONTENTS

Introduction: And It Was Night

Chapter 1 – Setting the Stage

Chapter 2 – A New Commandment: Love

Chapter 3 – Jesus Is the Only Way Home

Chapter 4 – Come Let’s Be Going

Chapter 5 – Abiding

Chapter 6 – Why Trials Won’t Destroy You

Chapter 7 – A Prayer for You

Epilogue

Endnotes/Resources

DEDICATION

To those who help me fulfill life long dreams; to those who enrich my life; to those who will always have my heart: Garth, Philip, Jheanelle, Gabrielle and Chantelle. Thank you.

PRAISE FOR THE

COMFORT OF NIGHT

What a wonderfully captivating concept to take a focused look at Jesus’ last words to His disciples in their intimate moments leading up to His death on the cross. In THE COMFORT OF NIGHT, Nylse will help you rediscover the friend you have in Christ at all times—and especially in your darkest times.

~ Kim Cash Tate, author of Cling: Choosing a Lifestyle of Intimacy with God.

THE COMFORT OF NIGHT is a beautifully written invitation to experience the triune God in a more personal and relational way—to partner with Him as we navigate life. Nylse takes an intimate look at the interactions between Jesus and His disciples in the darkest moments that led to the cross. The fear, anxiety, and uncertainty of the night are juxtaposed with the Light that shines, soothes, comforts, strengthens, guides, abides, and loves even in the darkest of times. This book is a must-read!

~ Loureva Slade, author of The Thing About Love

As a devotional writer Nylse is a compelling communicator with the unique ability to encourage readers in Christ regardless of where they are in their Christian walk.

~ Christina Patterson, Belovedwomen.org

INTRODUCTION

AND IT WAS

NIGHT

I ’m afraid. Can you lay down with me? Most children seem to be afraid of the dark, so it came as no surprise when my children started expressing their fears at night. My husband and I were keenly aware of these fears since bedtime heightened their fright. As parents, we were conscious of the dark and the worries—irrational or otherwise—that darkness could evoke. In our attempts to calm their fears, we bought night-lights and tried reading bedtime stories with them before going to bed, with little success. If you’re a parent, you know there isn’t much which makes your child feel safe beyond your presence for in a little child’s mind, the darkness seems overpowering. That all changed when I discovered glow-in-the-dark stars, which affixed to the ceiling. I was elated; this was an ingenious idea. During the day, they were invisible, but once I flipped the switch in their rooms at night, those tiny stars glowed. My children’s eyes gravitated to those stars as sleep slowly weighed down their eyelids. I distinctly recall peaking in to see if everything was OK and peacefully watching them gazing at those stars. Over time, my children no longer needed my presence to make the night feel safe. Those glowing stars provided the comfort they needed while they drifted off to sleep.

As I reflected on my children’s experience at night, I paid attention to the dueling dynamic nightfall brings. As the light disappears when I flip the switch, darkness makes its presence known. In the same way, we feel the presence of night in one of the more poignant phrases in the Bible, "And it was night" found at the end of John 13:31.

This passage has no transition to this phrase except noting the timing of what occurred and what was to come. Perhaps John wanted us to know when these events started, since typically in Hebrew times, the day was divided into four quadrants with night noted from 12:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. Night often seems sudden though it is a transition of fading light from day into night. "And it was night" serves as a physical and spiritual marker, a turning point of events, a flipping of the switch, if you will. With this transition, the more significant point becomes clear throughout the rest of the passage: God is with us in the night providing the comfort we need. He is the Comfort of night.

Like scared children, we often think the night is where bad things happen. Night initially may seem frightful, but how fitting that the identification of the traitor occurred at night. For a traitor, the night provided the perfect cover for Judas to leave the comfort of a meal and make the deadly transfer of thirty pieces of silver. Simultaneously, it is a temporarily dark time for the disciples, for they are now eleven; the communion is temporarily broken. But by the numbers, the light outweighed the dark. Ah, but light always does even when the numbers don’t add up because darkness and light cannot coexist. The traitor had to leave. Then Jesus, the Light of the World, shone even brighter to mend the hole which Judas’ departure bought. Judas, the traitor, identified departs from the Last Supper, and it was night.

With the initial identification of the traitor, and after he left, it was night. It was also a dark time for the disciples for a traitor was among them, and they did not know. When Judas left, the disciples were under the impression he went out to buy bread (John 13:28-30). Judas’ role only became apparent in the Garden of Gethsemane. But as with all the disciples, Jesus reached out to Judas until the end.

Ironically, at the darkest point in time, the disciples saw the Light for once Judas departed Jesus began to comfort and encourage them. Imagine their recognition when they realized what Judas had done. Imagine knowing you fellowshipped with him and thought he thought kindly toward Jesus. When Satan entered Judas, Judas went from being surrounded by the light and love of Jesus into the darkness of the night. In Judas’ case and ours, absent from Jesus, there was darkness. Once identified by Jesus, he left to do what he needed to do quickly. Betrayal is fitting for the cover of night.

Physically it was night, but in a spiritual sense, it was also night. The darkness of night does many things to us — it surrounds us, it frightens, and it feels palpable. Sometimes, darkness seems inescapable. Therefore, we often associate darkness with horrible things, because in horror movies and life, bad things happen in the dark. But that’s not always the case, for light shines brightest in the darkness of night. Street lights on a dark highway leading us home; stars and the moon brightening the night sky while providing a rhythm for life; the creation of