Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. (Gen 15,10-12)

During that long conversation with God (or maybe during a long time before Him, because it wasn't all talking), fear and darkness fell upon Abram. It was as if he had sunk to some depth in which he had lost sight of the light he had so clearly perceived from God. What had happened - what was this "fear and great darkness"?

It was not the power of darkness that gripped his heart in depression, for here was God so near. Nor was it Abram's consciousness of sin that drew him away from God. It was the depth of human weakness, the moment of exhaustion when, after the inner struggle and experience of an encounter with God that transcends all that is familiar, a man finds oneself at the edge of strength and his ability to absorb has been exhausted. It is no wonder that people in the Bible who have experienced a visitation from above have often fainted, lost their speech, trembled, and needed to hear: "Fear not..." This doesn't mean that the encounter with the heavenly always has to be so dramatic; it's a question of the degree of power of that visitation. In any case, this fact is not entirely easy to accept for those who believe that the experience of God's presence is entirely wonderful. One day it will be so without exception, but now we are still "in the flesh."

Abram has driven away the birds which here invade his covenant and represent the invisible enemy. He did not expect at all that in the very centre of God's activity and will there would be a struggle in which he must play his part. Nevertheless, when it came, he arose and immediately got down to work. Exhausting work, let us add...

This experience of Abram's also illustrates how close the heights of heaven are to the deep valleys in the life of pursuing God. And let us reiterate that beside the spiritual heights lie not the valleys of sin (as if the followers of the Lamb would have to fall into them), but the valleys of weakness, that "clay" of our bodies in which the heavenly treasure is stored (2 Co 4:7).