The darkness of the African morning caressed me with velvety fingers and enveloped my body with warm humid air as I found a perch on the stairs. Then I heard it, a soft shuffle, and steady steps. My heart sped like a racehorse as I squinted into the murk. I felt certain I was alone and awake before the others of my travel group.
Relief flooded me as I made out a pacing figure. Walking back an forth across the empty balcony of the third floor was the owner of the guesthouse. His beautiful ebony skin almost hid him from my sight.
I apologized for intruding, he assured me I was not. So I turned back to my vigilant watch as he walked in prayer, like a man on a mission in a daily ritual with God.
To keep out of his way, I scooted down the spiral iron staircase two steps beneath him. I waited with eager anticipation as the lights glittered over the sleepy valley below and roosters begin to crow, heralding the coming brilliance.
As streaks of orange and pink kissed the sky, I marveled at the beauty—at the promise fulfilled. This same sun chases away the darkness all over the world every single day of our lives.
When life is unsteady, and our solid ground shifts like the sands of the Sahara, we yearn for stability. We yearn for sameness and things we can grab tight and trust.
God in his wisdom gave us things that will never change—to comfort us and assure us there is a force greater than ourselves. A force that turns this very earth on its axis and gives flight to the black and white African bird screeching in the poinsettia tree below me.
Scripture talks of sameness, of predictable events, of the reliability of nature.
“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth”. Hosea 6:3
And we can find peace in knowing, the sun that spreads it’s warmth on my face as it peeks above the valley, will always rise the east. The poinsettia tree with it’s profusion of petals will always bloom red. The waist high geraniums surrounding this lovely compound will always bloom in the spring and summer. The rains will always fall from the heavens and the dew will always rise from the earth.
People, places and things will disappear and be forgotten as time marches with the precision of an ant to it’s hill. But we can be sure in the knowledge that our God orchestrated it all and will send that glorious sun to bed each evening in the west as he has for centuries.
His promises are true.
His benevolent spirit will watch over us with he same care he used to craft the delicate blossoms and the feathered bird.
We are his most magnificent creation.
We are his beloved,
And in him we can trust
Always and forever.
Psalm 19:1-6
Carefully and artistically shaped by God’s own hands, the heavens give us a glimpse of God’s glory. Day after day they speak of him with silent wonders and night after night they reveal him with a brilliant display. They need no words, they need no sound to unveil his wonders. Yet their voice reaches to the ends of the world.
“In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes it’s circuit to the other, nothing is deprived of it’s warmth.”
