The Silence Before the Spark

God's Work in Your Darkness Reveals the Hidden Light

Dec 21, 2025

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Welcome to Week #4 of the Advent Series: Light in Unexpected Places! Be sure to check out my last email for the series flow, which will alternate between here and my blog. If you missed the first post, “When Light Waits: Embracing the Slow Rhythms of God’s Promises” on the blog, you can read it HERE, and I will also include the link at the end of this post too.

Before the spark, there is a silence. Before creation’s first light, there was a hush that held infinite possibilities. Advent is that silence, the pause before God speaks, the stillness before the heavens blaze with glory. In a world of noise and hurry, Advent calls us back to the fertile quiet where hope is conceived.

Silence is not absence, but presence, the gentle space where God prepares to ignite the spark of new life.

As we reflected in our week three post of light waiting for the perfectly timed word of God before it burst forth the first day of creation, God’s promises follow a slow rhythm. He works in the quiet space of darkness before He brings forth new life out of our empty, chaotic places.

Christ’s birth came after 400 years of silence. No open revelation came through the prophets after God’s final words to the prophet, Malachi.

Much like the holy hush before God spoke light into being, the 400 years of silence was a sacred pause before God came as Light Himself to a darkened, empty and troubled world.

But the silence was not indicative of God’s absence, but of His quiet preparation of the greatest gift of Light and Love to a people sitting in the shadow of death.

Advent illumines this time of waiting and anticipation with gentle practices of silence, listening, and stillness. This last week of Advent builds in anticipation as we know the Light of the World will soon burst forth.

At one of the busiest times of the year, the Christmas noise often crowds out times of quiet listening and stillness, yet if we guard moments of silence before God, we learn silence is not emptiness, but fertile ground for God to speak new life into our circumstances.

I keep a ritual of lighting a candle each morning during Advent, reminding me of God’s presence. I sit in silence before Him for ten minutes—giving Him the first word of the day. No requests, no prayer formulas, just simple stillness in His presence.

This one Advent practice has transformed my once hectic days into opportunities for hearing God speak, preparing my heart to receive him anew.

The whirlwind of seasonal festivities reminds me of Elijah on Mount Horeb, waiting to hear from God. First a hurricane force wind passed by, then an earthquake, followed by a fire. (1 Kings 19:11-13) Yet, in none of these did Elijah hear God’s voice.

Only in the sheer silence following all of these was God’s voice heard, as almost a whisper.

At times Christmas demands seem much like the wind and the earthquake, muffling God’s still small voice. Until we choose rest in the holy hush of Advent, our hearts remain confused and restless.

Entreating us to wait in the silent darkness, Advent positions us for God’s greatest work within our fears, uncertainty, grief, disappointments, and brokenness, while reminding us the Sonrise is coming.

As I sat in my own painful space questioning the need for this time in the uncomfortable shadow, God reminded me of the wait of pregnancy. With each of my three children, I waited those long months hoping for a healthy child, unaware if I would welcome a boy or a girl.

In the darkness of my womb God knit together each child in His image, and in the fullness of time, each was birthed into the light.

Even now, as my mother’s heart grieves the estrangement of two of those children, not knowing where they are, or if they are well, God continues to work in the darkness as He did when they were in the womb. In the fullness of time, He will allow the light to come.

So it is with each dark and painful place in each of our lives, as well as the darkness we see all around us in the world.

If we return to the beginning of creation, in Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

The word used for “darkness” in this verse refers not to the absence of light, but to sorrow, misery, and death. The earth was not only chaotic, formless, and empty, but it was full of sorrow, misery and death. Sound familiar?

The Spirit of God hovered over this hopeless orb and before bringing forth first light, or forming anything at all, He worked in the silent darkness.

Our world is dark. Our lives may be dark, but God is at work. God’s people waited in the silence of sorrow, misery and death for the birth of the Messiah. Advent invites us to remember His birth and open our hearts to God’s work birthing Christ anew in our hearts.

But with the remembering, as our deepest longing cries out in our pain and darkness, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, we also cry out, Come, Lord Jesus, in anticipation of His return.

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
Psalm 62:1-ESV

When suffering is present, silence often feels like darkness. Imagine how God’s people felt waiting in 400 years of silence for just the spark of Light in the birth of Christ. We now hold the fullness of His birth, death, and resurrection, but we await in silence the culmination of His coming kingdom and righteousness.

May we embrace the silence as a hope-filled place of rest before God ignites His promises, remembering His work in our darkness will reveal the hidden Light.

“God of holy hush, quiet our restless hearts until we can hear Your whisper. In the silence before You ignite Your promises, prepare us to receive the fire of Your love. May our stillness become the cradle of Your Light. Amen”

Finally…

If you missed Week #3 Post of the Advent Series on the blog:

When Light Waits: Embracing the Slow Rhythms of God’s Promises” -Read HERE

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