Who [is] among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh [in] darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Ver. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord?] This question implieth that there were not many such among them. See the like, Hosea 14:9 .
That obeyeth.] The fear of God frameth the heart to the obedience of faith. Ecc 12:13
That walketh in darkness, and hath no light.] That, being for the time deserted, are in a mist; so as that ye cannot read your own graces, see your own comforts, but walk in darkness though children of light, and are in such a state as Paul and his company was, Act 27:20 when they saw neither sun nor stars for many days together, but were almost past hope.
Let him trust in the name of the Lord.] Let him do as those above mentioned did, cast anchor, even in the darkest night of temptation, and pray still for day, and it will dawn at length. Before daybreak the darkness is greatest; so is it oft in this case. Here then, as a child in the dark clasps about his father, so let the poor deserted soul about God. Distrust is worse than distress; and although the liquor of faith is never pure in these vessels of clay, without the lees of distrust; yet true faith will trust in God where it cannot trace him, and by an assurance of adherence, at least, get to heaven through mourning. As Christ was taken up in a cloud, or as the kine that carried the ark went right, but they lowed as they went.
And stay upon his God.] As the vine doth upon some support. Faith hath a catching quality at whatsoever is near to lay hold on; like the branches of the vine, it windeth about that which is next, and stays itself upon it, spreading further and further still. Fides est quae te pullastrum, Christum gallinam facit, saith Luther.