Divine Images, part 4: Night

 

In difficult seasons the night can be particularly hard.  In I Shall Not Die But Live Douglas Taylor wrote the following: “In the Diary of Kenneth MacRae (Banner of Truth, 1980), Mr MacRae is described, during his last illness, as dreading the night, with its sleeplessness and loneliness.”  Taylor who was also in his last illness writes, “I can very much identify with this.  During sleepless periods lately, I have dreaded the night too.”  This is almost certainly why the Bible speaks of the night seasons.  Night seasons are hard seasons of trial, which are often accompanied by temptations to fear and despair.  Night seasons are symbolic of times of mourning.  They represent times of suffering and grief and emotional or spiritual darkness.  A dark trial even if experienced over the course of days and weeks is a night season.  

Job knew something of these hard nights.  He said, “So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.  When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day (7:3-4).  Speaking of the night season he said, “My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest (Job 30:17).”

But there are helps both for the night and the night seasons.  What I offer here isn’t an exhaustive list. It is simply a collection of passages that speak about the night.  I have found that when anxiety and discouragement comes in the night, it is good to meditate on these texts. 

First, remember that you are not the first to weep in the night.  The psalmist said, “all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears (6:6).  He says, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God (Psalm 42:3)?  In fact, it is a mark of the saint that his grief over his own sins as well as the sins of Zion keep him up in the night.  Lamentations 1:2 says, “She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.”  

Second, remember that God wants you to cry out to Him in the night.  When you are heartsick over the state of the Church, it is good to be awake in the night.  God says, “Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street (Lamentations 2:19).

Third, remember that it is good to meditate on God’s law in the night as well as in the day.  When you find yourself up in the night, turn to the Bible and meditate on His word.  You will find that in those night seasons His mouth will be particularly sweet (Song of Solomon 5:16).  David, says, the man is blessed who delights “in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night (Psalm 1:2).”  I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law (119:55).  “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word (119:148).”  In fact, God said to Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (Joshua 1:5).” 

Fourth, remember that Jesus’ reins instructed Him in the night seasons (Psalm 16:7).  If anyone ever had night seasons it was Jesus.  He didn’t experience depression but He did experience everything externally which might warrant it.  He knew hardships, suffering, loneliness, and betrayal.  He sweat drops of blood as He agonized alone (in prayer) in the garden.  He was falsely accused and condemned, beaten and mocked, and then crucified.  But the greatest suffering was what He experienced at the hands of His own Father, as the Father poured out His wrath upon Him.  He bore our sins and was punished for them. 

The sufferings of our Saviour at the cross are beyond what we will ever understand.  And yet it was Jesus who said, “my reins instructed me in the night seasons.”  In other words, His conscience bore witness within Him that He had made a good choice, that God was still His portion, and still His happiness; that His cup “runneth over” and that He would dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23).  Though oppressed, forsaken and alone, He would still praise God (Psalm 42:11).   Though abandoned even by His friends, He was still not ashamed to call us brethren (Hebrews 2:11).  His reins instructed Him in the night seasons.  Even as you look to Jesus who was steadfast and faithful, pray that your reins would also instruct you in the night seasons. Pray that tempted as you are, you may be able to say, “it is the Lord let Him do what seemeth Him good (1 Samuel 3:18).”  He gives and He takes away, “blessed be the name of the LORD.”   

Fifth, remember that while “weeping may endure for a night,” “joy cometh in the morning (Psalm 30:5).  

Sixth, remember the refrain of the old hymn God Leads Us Along: “Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood; some through great sorrow, but God gives a song, in the night season and all the day long.”  God will give you a song in the night.  There is a song of praise to be sung to Him in the nighttime (and in the night seasons).  It is the experience of all the saints, that God is faithful to give us a song.  The psalmist says, “Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life (42:8).”  He says, “I call to remembrance my song in the night (Psalm 77:6).”  Elihu, too, speaks of God his maker “who giveth songs in the night (Job 35:10).”

Seventh, remember that the night is His.  We are often comforted by the thought that this is our Father’s world.  Remember that the night too is His.  “The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun (Psalm 74:1).”

Eighth, remember that the night is for showing forth God’s faithfulness.  You woke up rejoicing in His lovingkindness and now as you look back over the course of the day you can thank Him and praise Him for His faithfulness.  "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night (Psalm 92:1-2).”

Ninth, remember that the Lord preserves His people in the night.  God says, "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:6).”  While speaking of the way in which God preserves His people, Isaiah specifically mentions the night: “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence (Isaiah 4:5).”  He is saying that even as the Lord protected His people with a pillar of fire in the night, so He will preserve His saints day and night until they appear with Him in glory.  In the same way God speaks of His vineyard (His Church), and He says, “I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day (Isaiah 27:3).”

Tenth, remember that the darkness of night is no obstacle with God.  Whatever the nighttime may seem to you, it is as nothing with God.  Perhaps the darkness keeps you from seeing others, but still you can say, “yea the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee (Psalm 139:12).”  

Eleventh, the night time is a good time to remember Him - to remember God.  After all, happy is the people whose God is the LORD (Palm 144:15).  Isn’t He your exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4) and your exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1)?! Remember that He is with you and will never forsake you.  Remember that if He is for you, who can be against you?  Remember that your Saviour is that Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  May it be that you will be able to say with the psalmist, “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice (Psalm 63:6-7).”

Twelth, remember that you can have communion with Him in the night.  Though the night is dark and dreary, though you may be anxious and downcast, still you can go to your bed to meet with Him.  You can say with the bride, “He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts (Song of Solomon 1:15).” 

Isn’t it wonderful to think that in the night (and in the night seasons) you can meet with Him?  You always have access to a throne of grace. He draws near to them that draw near to Him. In the night (as in the day), He will come in to you and sup with you!  In the night you can seek Him and enjoy communion with Him.  The bride says, “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not (Song of Solomon 3:1).”  Isaiah says, “With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).”

Thirteenth, remember that before long the day will break.  And when you think of the coming daybreak think not merely of the rising of the sun, or even of the blessed promise of the Sun of righteousness who rises with healing in His wings.  More than that, think of the coming glory of heaven.  That is the morning the bride is speaking of when she says, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether (Song of Solomon 2:17).” Sometime soon you shall close your eyes to this world and open them to a blessed eternity with your beloved Friend who is the fairest of ten thousand and altogether lovely.

Fourteenth, remember that there is no night in heaven.  "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever (Revelation 22:5)."  See also Revelation 21:25.

Fifteenth, remember God’s promise: “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light (Zechariah 14:7).”  Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage are excellent. He says, “It is so with the church of God in this world; where the Sun of righteousness has risen it cannot b e dark night, and yet short of heaven it will not be clear day.  It is so with particular saints; they are not darkness, but light in the Lord, and yet, while there is so much error and corruption remaining in them, it is not perfect day.  So it is as to the providences of God that relate to His church; in general the affairs of the church are neither good nor bad in any extremity, but there is a mixture of both; we are singing both of mercy and judgment, and are uncertain which will prevail, whether it be an evening or a morning twilight.”