Evening, July 10

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"And the evening and the morning were the first day."

  Genesis 1:5

   The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and yet the two
   together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This
   is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual
   experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he
   is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to
   be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This
   will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their
   infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there is so
   much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name
   from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the
   word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon.
   You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you
   still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the
   sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining.
   Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first
   in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful
   apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be
   merciful to me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns
   when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan,
   "That which is last, lasts forever." That which is first, yields in due
   season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though
   you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord,
   there is no evening to follow; "thy sun shall no more go down." The
   first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day,
   when we shall be with God, forever, shall be a day with no evening, but
   one, sacred, high, eternal noon.