I opened my back door yesterday on a visitation of sorts. A very bright light was illuminating the ficus tree in our back yard throwing shafts of light through its branches. It was an arresting apparition in the predawn darkness that recalled the burning bush Moses encountered when God called him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt, and many other biblical angelic visits that were always accompanied by a bright light. I would have fallen to my knees had I not known it was my neighbor’s spotlight that he leaves on often when he is gone. What made me start, however, was the fog of an early morning marine layer that was turning the light into rays radiating from its source.

My neighbor’s light is so bright that it illuminates objects through the windows in our back rooms and makes you feel a little like you are being filmed as you are getting ready for bed. I’ve contemplated asking him to put a softer light there, but Marti likes the way it lights up the tree at night, making its delicate leaves appear almost translucent — kind of like free backyard lighting. So what’s annoying to me is a source of pleasure for my wife. What a difference a perspective makes.

This morning, however, it is causing me to reflect on those times in history that the ordinarily invisible God has broken in on our human existence and manifested Himself in some way. Except for the times angelic beings took on human form, these visits were always characterized by a bright and at times blinding light (i.e., Paul on the road to Damascus).

Do you ever wish God would break in on your existence in a visible way? How much easier it might be to believe, and yet, think of how much trust God is placing in us to believe when we don’t see. After allowing Thomas to allay his doubts by seeing the wounds in His hands and side, Jesus placed a blessing on all those who would end up believing without seeing. That would be you and me.

God is entrusting us with a secret. He is asking us to place our faith in what we can’t see and then confirming that in our hearts by giving us the very faith we need to believe it. It’s a little hard to explain to someone who doesn’t know this yet, but God gives us something more solid than the bright light of a visitation: He gives us the faith to believe.

The Bible calls faith “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Substance … evidence … those are solid words you can build something on, even better than a bright light that is there for only a moment. Faith is with us all the time.

Thank the Lord today for the faith to believe Him. It’s there in your heart. Believe it. Build on it.