Evening, December 23

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"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."