Look to the Stars

“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky.”

This is a quote from Wiseblood, Flannery O’Connor’s first novel. A southerner and a Christian, she is widely acknowledged to be one of America’s finest authors. Wiseblood was also made into a movie directed by Sam Huston.

Her fiction is tough reading. She saw a Southern culture that was “Christ haunted.” Her writings are filled with narratives that have been referred to as “severe mercies”, horrible events which lead to redemption.

As the main character of Wiseblood enters the town which will be the setting for the book, he sees main street, and the sky above it. Dark events will occur, like the darkness of the sky he sees. But through all things, God above is orchestrating all things for His glory, and the redemption and maturing of humanity.

In the midst of dark events that sometimes fill our lives, we would do well to look to the sky. We would do well to pray to the God who is orchestrating all things for our well-being. That requires faith. But we are told repeatedly by God’s Word that we are to walk by that faith, not sight. That faith is the “assurance of things hoped for” Hebrews 11:1. Look to the stars and live by that hope in the world.