Evening
Time: 10:37 PM PST
"Why go I mourning?" --Psalm 42:9
Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so
often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told
thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of
circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues
of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent
would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow,
and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night,
that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou
then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God
loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as
real as in day, and God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest
moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost;
He only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to
receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's
ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of
time, or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and
wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation.
Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting joys, for these
light afflictions will soon be over, and then "for ever with the Lord," thy
bliss shall never wane.
"Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe and thou shalt see,
That Christ is all in all to thee."