Now faith is...

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. (Rabindranath Tagore)

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see. (Hebrews 11:1-3)

For some, the days may seem like they are a little 'dark' - nothing good seems to be in visible sight at all. For others, they have just come out of their darkest place to date, glad to be 'done with it', but ever so grateful for all they learned as they leaned into Jesus throughout that darkness. Faith isn't born in the 'lightest' places of our lives - it is most frequently found growing leaps and bounds when the 'darkness' comes into our lives. Why do you think that might be? It could just be that there is no other 'resource' quite as good as Jesus and his intense love for us. Trust in God is built - it isn't just 'given'. It isn't inherited from our parents or a good mentor in our lives. It isn't a result of reading our Bible from cover to cover as we would a novel. While the teachings of our parents and mentors may help us see faith in action, it doesn't 'create' faith within us - it just spurs us to look for that same faith by going to Jesus to understand for ourselves how it is faith is born and grows. Reading our Bible may give us an understanding of how God works, but just understanding how he works doesn't build our faith.

I like how Tagore put it - faith is 'feeling the light when the dawn is still dark'. When you at that darkest place, does light seem to trickle through that deepest darkness? Fear seems to be put down, we rise to our feet in some unknown faith, and we stand with a strength not our own. How? God comes alongside us in that darkness, allowing us to 'feel' his light long before we see it. While God doesn't want us to depend upon our feelings (emotions), he made our emotions to help us 'sense' things around us - including his presence, power, and peace. This might be the greatest thing we learn in the time of darkness - nothing replaces his presence, power, or peace - shadows may come and forces may be at work to replace them in our lives, but they will never be overcome by any opposing force. Darkness actually isn't darkness when we have the light within us. Just sayin!