Darkness and Light
Praise God!
Perhaps it is my innate stubbornness, perhaps naivete, perhaps sheer bull-headed stupidity, but whereas all around me see much of darkness and terror, it seems to me that God is pulling aside the cloak that shields His grace and everything about me glows with the light of His favor, His love, and His glory. I wrote just this evening to a friend and said that sometimes God's love is hard, but God grants us the strength to bear all trials and all hardships, and nothing is sent to us merely to crush us to the ground. In all that comes, there is the grace of the moment, the grace of what God is giving for that exact time and that exact place. His Spirit is moving through the world even as we read and speak. His glory streams out, unstoppable. His grace, a neverending stream of such purity and loveliness that no water on earth can begin to capture its beauty. His voice is the voice of the brook, the roar of many waters, the whisper of the wind, the patter of the rain. But His voice says all that needs to be said, and those who take shelter in Him can come to no permanent harm.
If you look with the eyes of the world, darkness seems poised like the Fenris wolf to devour all. But all that the darkness can devour is dust--everything that is important lies beyond the reach of darkness or any worldly care. Our salvation and our hope is in God's holy will, and His will is always, ultimately done, even if it must be done awkwardly. Let us pray instead, that His will may be done perfectly.
Praise God!
