Faith Comes Out At Night

Last Light … a time when, as the light dims, hope fades…

But last light is also when faith comes into its own…

Faith is hope in action… a hope (by hope’s definition) not yet seen.

Last light. A time for which faith rises.

***

Faith comes out at night,

When last light disappears,

And semblances of hope fade,

Because faith has no need of light.

Faith comes out at night,

When last light no longer steers,

And light is no longer our aid,

Because faith is not faith with sight.

Faith comes out at night,

When last light can’t help our fears,

When light’s no longer arrayed,

Because by faith is how we fight.

***

Faith comes out at night. There’s no need of it in broad daylight. Of course, I’m using day and night as metaphors here. When life’s going well, and certainly when there’s nothing to write home about when we’re away, faith has no role. But the time when faith comes into its own — the time when its necessity is born — is as last light comes and hope fades.

When we struggle and stumble and fall, although it doesn’t seem so, our faith gear is engaged. It’s when our faith engineers our response. Our responses don’t have to look pretty, and much of the time they’ll look awkward. Awkward responses are recoverable.

Last light. A time for which faith rises.

When we’re staring down the barrel of our own demise, when life’s come to be more terrible than we could ever have imagined, something in us wants to rise. Something in us has to fight for what is right. Something in us realises that there’s so much more to life that’s beyond our sight. There’s more to the story than we can see just now. We tell ourselves, “Hold on in faith!” For we must.

My writing is bent toward the person in crisis simply for the fact that I’ve seen the majesty of God’s power released as a product of the coming of night. It’s almost as if God’s grace comes paradoxically to nurse us through such a time; to teach us how to manage a life we cannot control.

When last light has come and then gone it’s time for faith to rise. It’s time to trust God. It’s time to stop doing life in our own strength.

If such a time as last light never comes in your life I bid you well. But my experience is last light is the time when life actually begins.

When night comes, as we turn the corner into Struggle Street, keep driving forward in faith, until morning comes.

Morning always comes. Arise, in faith.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.