Seeing the Stars Best

Starry nights are a wonderful thing. I love looking up in the sky, taking it all in, and enjoying what God has made. What does it take to see those stars so well, though? If you live in the city, you will never see the stars nearly as bright as you will in the country--I recommend going out sometime if you haven't. Before I ramble any more, here's what I'm getting at. We don't see the stars without the darkness surrounding them. We need the night to see that light. I want you to think about those dark days of life...love ones lost, maybe your financial resources are low, maybe you find yourself just wishing to escape some of the things you've been facing. God shows up best in our darkest of nights. His overflowing grace, His steadfast love, His sovereign sustainment all are most visible in our most vulnerable moments. It's true. My wife lost a child in miscarriage in October of 2009, right in the heart of my first semester in school, with lots of work to do and then an overwhelming flood of grief that ensued at such a loss. I may have such days again, but that was the hardest day of my life when we found out about the loss of our little one. We decided to have a child as a gift to God, someone He could use to His pleasure, in July. My wife conceived after we made such a decision, and we joyfully came to find out a child was on the way. We even saw our child at the first sonogram, and it was truly exciting. The next month, October, this all changed. I can tell you, though, that in that time, I truly felt the prayers of people being answered as God's grace overwhelmed us far more than the grief. Easy? By no means. Without hope? Not a chance! I take comfort in God's sovereignty and a deep knowledge of His love for us, even when our days grow dark. If you do not know God personally through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, dark days may truly seem hopeless. Christ died for our sins, and we all know that we've done wrong. He has offered Himself as our atoning Sacrifice, satisfying God's requirement of a perfect sacrifice for sins. We simply have to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, place our faith in His work, and you should know, too, that He was raised from the dead on the third day and that He is in heaven now at the Father's right hand. He would love for you to make that decision. If you're a believer, you have hope. The darkness of life is always a backdrop to God's grace for the believer. I know it's true. He sustains us and our hope is not in vain. He is so good. I'd encourage you to pray, even now, thanking God for His love for us and His sustaining grace. And if you need Christ as Savior, do it now. No one who recognizes God for who He truly is would want to continue on without Him. He's God and there is no other!

"You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah." (Psa 32:7)