Singing in Shadowy Places

"Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You." Psalm 143:8

 As I sit in the hushed and darkened room, I am alone with my thoughts. It is just before the dawn and our home is silent except for the chirping crickets and the beginning sounds as the birds arise, singing songs of joy and promise. What lies ahead for them, they do not know. Extreme weather conditions? Predatory dangers? Hunger? Perhaps, and yet they sing a song of hope for the dawn that they feel certain is coming! A new day that they innately know is filled with the presence of their faithful and loving Creator! Though they find their selves blanketed in the obscurity of the unknown; they sing!

 

But why? I believe that they sing for the dawn…for the promise of a new day! They don’t have a laid out plan of how their day will unfold and yet for the joy of living they sing. I also think it’s part of who they are as birds. Deep within them lies a melody placed there by their Creator and I believe it is for that audience of One that they sing! And what about us...what should our "natural” response be to the pervasive shadows that cloak our earthly existence? What song are we singing when we too find ourselves draped in the obscurity of the great unknown? Oh that we might learn from their expectant example!

 

Should the circumstances that lie ahead for this day and those that will come after it, ever be enough to keep my heart from singing songs of joy and promise? Though today I sit in the shadowy places and my heart is weighted with various concerns-is not the love and faithfulness of My heavenly Father enough to overcome these burdens? But in this present darkness, my song is yet unsung.

 

How about you today? Is your song of trust filling the rafters of your life while you sit in a shadowy place? Oh that our hearts would choose to release their melodies of hope and trust while currently residing in this temporary darkness! And yet often we refrain from singing in the black of night; preferring an assurance of what lies ahead before celebrating it. If only our hearts would trust enough to sing as the birds of the air, whose choruses inaugurate the promised daybreak, before they see the evidence of its existence.

 

But nevertheless upon the wings of the dawn comes a powerful and perpetual reminder of hope that is found in the face of our Papa, who rains down upon us His great and steadfast love, daily! And thankfully that love is also showered upon us even when the shadows lie heavy on our hearts and the darkness seems to reign over our circumstances! How good and faithful is the love of Father, who never holds back His melody of love though ours lie hushed!

 

Give pause for a moment to consider that somehow, some way the emergent dawn floods the earth and finds its way to touch our personal world with its light no matter where we live. And so MUCH GREATER is the all-encompassing and unrelenting love of our Father that is lavished upon us no matter the level or intensity of the shadows that surround our lives! May this fact alone be enough to cause our hearts to swell and burst forth in songs of trust and gratitude no matter how long we have been under siege by the dark of night!

 

Oh Lord, whether the path we find ourselves on has been kissed by the dawn’s emerging light so that we can see what lies ahead for many steps or if our way is still sheathed in the shadows and we strain to see even our very next step; would You come to the place where our hearts reside and show Yourself strong? Oh that we might sense Your abiding presence no matter the level of shade that binds itself upon our wondering hearts! May we join with David, the man after Your own heart in requesting; “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.”

 

May the brilliant light of Your unfailing love dispel any fear or concern of what lies on the other side of the shadowy places…may we be sufficiently secure in the darkness so that with untouchable joy we unlock our melody of trust-though the night seemingly reigns supreme. May our waiting hearts burst forth with songs that confirm…that testify of…that showcase Your unfailing love! May our trust in the darkness be shown as perfect wisdom as the emerging dawn brings us confirmed reports of Your never failing love! And though for the present moment we abide in the land of deepened shadows, may our hearts overflow with held back songs of thankfulness for a Love that we could never deserve and one that we will gladly spend eternity exploring!