The First Light of Hope

The First Light of Hope

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1:1-5

The rolling polycrisis of our times ravages our spirits. Injustice wreathing our systems. The ongoing devastation of family violence. War and conflict burning up our feeds. The continued, even devilishly gleeful, plundering of our common home.

We’re waiting for a new world to be born.

But “waiting” doesn’t even begin to describe it. The word seems too neutral, passive: you wait for the train. But the waiting I mean is more an agony of longing. One that drives prayerful action, difficult conversations to shift the dial, faithful tending of the gardens within our reach, patient endurance to keep going despite discouragement. 

In our quiet moments, though, we feel how much we’re wilting from the strain. It hurts. To wait is to wilt because waiting is really a willingness to suffer. We face the brokenness of the world and our own heavy hearts. We absorb pain, rather than inflict it. Compromise, even though our spirits cry out for revolution. Along with the whole creation, we groan in anguish. God’s Spirit joins in with groans too deep for words. 

Then Advent arrives, the season that gives us heart to keep waiting. It gives us the courage to fully stare into the void, because we know that the true light that gives light to all humankind is coming – indeed, has come and will come again – into the world. God sends the baby Jesus. Love breaks through the way light breaks through the darkness. It may seem frail, a flickering hope, but all is changed.

This redemptive vision, this promise of hope, this light that gives light to all: all this is lying dormant in these opening verses of Genesis 1. 

Here, at the beginning of all things, the Spirit of God hovers over the face of the deep. Face to face with a world that doesn’t yet exist, the God who is Love loves that world into being. The scene recalls the way a parent gently rouses their beloved child from sleep. You watch over that child, and you want everything good for them, and are determined to do all you can to make it so.

For me, the creation story illuminates what God has done since the beginning of all things, what He is doing to this day, and what He will do for eternity: be a solid, active presence who wills life and light into existence. Even better, God exceeds every earthly parent, since His very words bring about His heart’s desire. “Let there be light,” He said. And there was light.

These words light up every darkness. I can’t think of better news for us when the challenges we face overwhelm us. 

Our sleep may be troubled in this world but, one day, God will speak over us words we’ve waited so long to hear. Words to pierce any restless slumber: 

“My beloved child, it’s time to wake up. Behold, I have made – I am making – all things new.” 

Dr Justine Toh makes sense of the entanglements of contemporary culture and belief, which she explores in articles published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, ABC Religion & Ethics, The Canberra Times, and Eureka St. A Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, Justine is the author of the mini-book 'Achievement Addiction' and an occasional guest-host on programs on ABC's Radio National.

This devotional is the first in a series of daily email devotionals for Advent 2025 reflecting on the realities of our broken world along with the unshakable hope that love still breaks through. It explores how God’s love disrupts, heals, and transforms - breaking through darkness, despair, and injustice to bring light, joy, and renewal.

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Common Grace is a diverse movement of individuals, churches and communities passionate about Jesus and justice. We have come together as those from different Christian traditions who stand in the continuity of the historic Christian faith, centred on the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as witnessed to in holy scripture. This series highlights the diversity of followers of Jesus across these lands. These voices may not agree with one another (or with you), but they are each an expression of longing for the God whose love we see break through in Jesus.

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