Spurgeon: December PM
* 12/23/PM
"The night also is Thine."
--Psalm 74:16
Yes, Lord, Thou dost not abdicate Thy throne when the sun
goeth down, nor dost Thou leave the world all through these long
wintry nights to be the prey of evil; Thine eyes watch us as the
stars, and Thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky.
The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are
in Thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally
with Thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the
midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are
precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may
my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.
The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and
control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all
is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night
about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe
is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even
unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints,
and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people's
highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil
contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah
saying, "I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do
all these things."
Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are
not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth
are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord's servants
weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the
darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their
end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to
Him.
"Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light;
Since the Lord Himself is here,
'Tis not meet that we should fear."