Saying 'It's always darkest before the dawn' makes nearly as much sense as saying, 'You always find something the last place you look for it.' Of course you do... you don't keep looking after you find it, and if it got even darker, then it wouldn't be getting lighter, aka dawning!
Alternately, despair.com has a different approach to this...
However, this brings to mind one of my most recent favorites, Andrew Peterson's "The Burning Edge of Dawn."
I've been waiting for the sun
To come blazing up out of the night like a bullet from a gun
Till every shadow is scattered, every dragon's on the run
Oh, I believe, I believe that the light is gonna come
And this is the dark, this is the dark before the dawn...
This is the storm, this is the storm
The storm before the calm
This is the pain, the pain before the balm
This is the cold, the cold
It's the cold before the warm
These are the tears, the tears before the song
This is the dark
Sometimes all I see is this darkness
Well, can't you feel the darkness
This is the dark before the dawn.
