“Waiting on the Night to Fall” – Casting Crowns
A dear friend (thank you Shirley Thomas!) heard this song and asked me to write about it. She knows I love to take songs and share the story within. I dove into this song and let it reveal it's story and gave her and some other friends a copy, and I decided to share it here on my blog too.
If you love Casting Crowns like I do, you have heard this song, and you might already know the story behind it. But if not, here it is:
This song was written in 2014 by Mark Hall, the lead singer of Casting Crowns. At the time, he was a leader of college students at his church. He had a student who had been an addict in the past but had given his life to Jesus. The student loved Jesus and was living for Him, but he started struggling with the temptation to give in to addiction again. He asked Mark for help. And that conversation led to the words of this song:
There’s an old man livin’ in the back of your woods tonight
You forgot he was even there, but you’ve never slipped his mind
He’s livin’ off of scraps of you, you never knew you left behind
And as the sun goes down, he rises with a smile
This song is a creative story, but the scenario it portrays is real. This happens often and predictably. Sadly, it's so easy to get lazy and apathetic about the great risk and the ongoing threats we should be ever alert for.
What is happening here?
The biblical term is “spiritual warfare”.
Yes, Satan is alive, and because we collectively feed and nourish him so much, he’s doing quite well.
For now.
But now is where we live.
Now, in a very broken world with our very broken lives. Broken relationships. Broken dreams. Broken trust. Broken desires, so that we try to fill empty lives with what we think we want. We desperately need to be filled. We were created with this need. But it’s oh, so easy to get to a point where what we think we want becomes what we settle for more and more. Why? Because the emptiness is deafening and we must quiet it with something; sometimes, anything. And we find ourselves in devastating and painful dysfunction and abuse and addiction, and in our vulnerability we listen to so many lies.
It wasn’t always this way. You see, as the story that became this song goes, and as so many real life stories go…
Some time ago, there was a major confrontation with this old man, and empowered by the truth, God’s Truth, he was sent packing. Oh the thrill of the victory dance! Oh the joy of all out praising God!
But life just kept on happening, and that amazing mountaintop experience of God showing up BIG… that was replaced with the daily grind and a false sense of permanent security. The falling away was so gradual at first. So easy to miss a gradual progression until it becomes a swift and violent downward spiral continually escalating until the deep dark valley looms big and menacing.
Yes, you sent the old man away once. But he is oh, so patient. He waits and hopes for a chance to get a foothold again. And he knows that just a little crack in your armor can be gradually pulled apart more and more, until he is in position and so ready for all out takeover of all that matters to you.
Oh, yes. Seeing you again, with that little bit of uncertainty, doubt, fear… oh, he does his own victory dance.
In all the busyness of daily life, the importance of being alert and watchful for this old man got buried. Oh, you know he exists, but you forgot how he waits, with all this frenzied work you are doing. And what are you doing that is taking you away from being alert and watchful? What we all tend to do and must fight against. When life gets hard, we tend to seek the easy fix. We want relief, satisfaction, fulfillment. And we want it right now. We seek flashy fillers for these gaping holes inside. Fake fillers are so accessible and visible everywhere. But we pay a high price for these fillers. They are so temporary. And we want more and more.
He sees you in that moment of weakness, and he waits for the darkness to rise. That is when he works best. When it’s dark and you are seeking light but not finding it because you are looking for it in the darkness. Looking for brilliance in inky black. It’s not there.
He knows this, and he loves to work in the dark, to whisper shouts. He tells you that counterfeit light is light, when it’s really darkness.
How does this happen?
Gradually. Guard down, not paying attention.
He’s waiting on the night to fall
The old man’s comin’ to call
But you don’t see the writing on the wall
He’ll never step out in the light
No, he’s just biding time
And while you slumber, he’s gonna come and take it all
He’s waiting on the night to fall
Yes. It’s a gradual progression, until it’s not.
And here’s a little different perspective - picture this scene:
A light tap on our door in the night. You can’t sleep anyway. You open the door a crack, and here is this nice looking gentleman on the other side of the door. Clean cut, neat and orderly, and oh, so polite. And he’s selling these wonderful looking items.
They are soft and warm and caress the wounds you haven’t been able to find anything to soothe.
Oh! What wonderful fillers! He says they are the perfect fit for the emptiness that’s seemed so intense lately, and they work instantly! How wonderful!
So, you smile and invite him in.
He smiles back.
Then, he walks right in, bringing his whole entourage with him, and you soon realize, too late, that you are hosting a raucous celebration, and they are all very busy trashing everything you have. All you’ve worked so hard for. All you love. Everyone you love. Shattering.
You feel angry, but powerless.
He knows you have the answers, but truth lies dusty on your shelf
And the sword that you could slay him with has become an ornament and nothin’ else
You could put him back down in his hole in the ground, but he knows you never will
He’s been around so long, you got used to the smell
He knows he’ll never have your soul
But he will gladly rob you blind
While you’re feasting at his table, he’ll tie your hands and numb your mind
He’ll take you farther than you wanna go
He’ll keep you longer than you wanna stay
And it will cost you more than you ever thought you’d pay
You feel powerless, but you are NOT powerless. You have the answers, and that old man knows it. But he also knows that God’s Word can’t penetrate when it’s not in use and not remembered in your heart. You can’t use His Word as a weapon if it is not an integral part of your life. God’s Word is a sword to win battles with, but it’s useless at this moment because it lies dusty on your shelf. He enjoys knowing that you’ve forgotten all about it, and he takes full advantage of how you’re unarmed. He laughs with he sees that the ultimate weapon is gathering dust just steps away.
You think you’ve lost. He thinks he’s won, even though he knows he can’t have your soul because it will never belong to him.
He can’t have the victory, but he can win some battles when you allow him to. He knows he’s ultimately defeated, but he still will fight to win every battle he can.
But you have all you need, and more, to win battles if you choose to utilize what you always have within reach.
What do you have? (Eph 6:10-18)
It’s all readily available. But you must take it up.
How do you do that?
Diligently seeking God, disciplining yourself to commit to prayer, taking in all the truths in His Word, and living in light of that.
It’s hard. And it’s an ongoing struggle. But this is how we must fight.
Because he is always waiting on the night to fall. It doesn’t fall if we continue to seek the Light.
The Light of the world. Jesus. (John 8:12)
Could not end this post without the song itself, so below is a link to it.
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