Faith in the Dark

Recently, I came across this video of a Symphony Orchestra performing in southern Brazil. While playing the Farandole from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne Suite, the theatre was suddenly plunged into darkness as a power outage swept across the city. In an instant, the hall was left in pitch black—no lights, no conductor visible, no sheet music to read.

But the musicians and the conductor didn’t stop. They didn’t panic. They kept on playing in perfect harmony, in perfect pitch by memory and by heart, until the emergency power generators were activated.

That’s a picture of faith and trust. That’s what the Prophet Habakkuk was talking about when he said, “Though the fig tree does not bud, there are no grapes on the vines, the olive crop fails, the fields produce no food, there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Anybody can sing when the lights are on, when the barns are full, when everything’s going your way. But real faith shows up when the stage goes dark. Real joy shines brightest when the harvest looks empty, when the blessings haven’t come yet, when you can’t see the conductor.

Maybe right now, you feel like you’ve been plunged into darkness. The medical report wasn’t what you wanted. The door you prayed for didn’t open. The relationship feels empty. The temptation in those moments is to stop—to stop singing, to stop believing, to let the music of your soul go silent.

But this is the very moment when faith speaks loudest. This is where heaven leans in. This is the moment when you say, “Even here, even now, I will rejoice in the Lord. Even in the dark, I will keep playing. Even without answers, I will keep trusting. Even with tears, I will keep singing.”

Friends, when you refuse to let the darkness silence your praise, when you keep trusting by memory and by heart, God promises to carry you through the night into His marvelous light. And when the power comes back on, when the light breaks through, you’ll see that your faith carried you, your praise sustained you, and your God never left you.