Evening, July 21

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"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 "forever 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."