This season in my life, I find myself torn. I am...by nature... a morning person. I love to be awake before the break of day to see the first glimpses of dawn. Each new day is a reminder that God deems this world... with all of its woes... worth investing in for another day. He longs for every soul to return to fellowship and faith. The birds break into song, and I find myself singing with them.
The other part of me loves the night... the wee hours of the night when most of the world is silent. Prayer feels different in the stillness and silence of the night.
I am reminded of Jesus... after his cousin and childhood playmate John the Baptist was beheaded... went into the wilderness. He needed to breathe, to pray and to feel the grief of what John had suffered because of Him. It ached.
The night Jesus knew he would be betrayed by Judas and arrested, again he chose to go into a garden to pray. What did He find in the dark? This Ann Voskamp quote speaks to the question:
"Darkness isn't the presence of God leaving us - but the shelter of God coming near to us." - Ann Voskamp
Jesus sought out the desolate, dark places to pray.
" rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." - Mark 1:35
It was His way. He would seek out the Father and find him. God does not leave us in the dark. He draws nearer and nearer. We only need to pause, pray and practice patience.
He is our hiding place.
Today, I am grateful we need not fear the dark.
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