For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
It happens every year…just about this time. One of the amazing things about God’s creation is the preciseness of it all. You can predict the time of the sunrise a hundred years from today within seconds. The seasons come and go with precise assuredness, and it is not an accident. Oh no, it is by intentional design. The Creator God of it all is the God of details and He doesn’t miss one. Just a couple of weeks ago here in Southern Illinois we were freezing and had a dose of snow, sleet, and ice. Monday it was just over seventy degrees, the grass is greening, and the limbs of the trees are swelling with anticipation. They all know it is time. Even a late snow won’t upset the apple cart.
I know sometimes we worry about some things and sometimes we worry about everything, but nature just doesn’t seem to have that problem. Sometimes I long for that. When things around me seem so confusing and threatening, when it seems that the new normal isn’t normal at all…I just have a tendency to worry. But nature doesn’t miss a beat. This morning, I got up at my somewhat usual 4:30 am (don’t ask me why) and began my day with a cup of coffee and a time with Jesus. It works well. The coffee wakes me up and my time with Jesus sets me up for a brand-new day.
At 4:30 am the sun is still sleeping so the skies and the countryside are still dark…very dark. But something happens every year…just about this time. Somewhere in my yard, somewhere outside my window a songbird starts to sing. I’m sure it is a different bird every year and it might even be a different bird every day but long before daylight, he or she decides to sing. I find it very…refreshing. Though it is dark, the songbird sings in anticipation of what is coming. Somehow, they know that the darkness of night is just about over, and the sun is going to rise. They seem to know that the darkness cannot last forever…it must give way to the power of light.
By faith, the songbird sings its celebration of Spring and of a new day. And do you know what? Sure enough, in about thirty or forty minutes, the dawn begins to break, and God honors their faith. Day in and day out the songbird sings and day in and day out God is faithful. I think there is a lesson there for us. Actually, there are two. First, is the lesson of our faithfulness. The songbird sings not because it sees the light but because it believes the light is coming. Tucked away in a letter that Paul wrote to the church located in Corinth are these words, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We.Walk.By.Faith.
The songbird sings by faith and God calls us to walk by faith. Walking by faith believes that what God has said will come to pass. And the second lesson? It is the lesson of His faithfulness. Our faithfulness is based on a faithful One. We have all lived long enough to know that put your faith in the wrong thing and you’re toast. But put your faith in the One who is faithful, and it is the most sane, most logical thing that you can do. In 2020 it was difficult to find sure footing. Everywhere you stepped it was shifting sand and honestly, 2021 wasn’t much better. The one exception to that was God. The God who was God in March of 2020 when we started this COVID mess is the same faithful God today, two years later. He does not change. You can take that to the bank.
So tomorrow morning, even if it’s out of the range of my hearting, a songbird will begin to sing in the darkness. It will be announcing, by faith, that a new day is coming—daylight is coming. And Lord willing, most of us will awaken from a night of rest. For some it may be dark and for others quite light, but for all of us we have the opportunity to take our first steps in the new day. I hope they will be steps of faith…faith in a Dearest Daddy who loves us enough to guide us, to help us and to lead us. All we have to do is believe…in Him…in who He is and what He said. He has never failed, you know. It is totally foreign to Him. He can and will come through…not matter what. So, go ahead and peer out into the darkness as the songbird sings and know, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 