Both Daytime and Nighttime

“By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” – Psalm 43:8 (ESV).  “For Your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in Your faithfulness.” –Psalm 26:3 (ESV).

To know the presence of the Lord both in daytime and nighttime should be the steadfast aim of our spiritual journey.  If we consider wisely, we know that God is as near as a thought, as easily accessible as breathing.  It is we who fail to turn our minds, our attention toward Him.  Jacob, when going away from his father Isaac’s house after he had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and blessing,  saw in a dream as he slept the angels of the Lord descending and ascending on a ladder.  He awake to exclaim:  “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!...How awesome this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16b-17, ESV).  Jacob secured the stone on which he had rested his head and named the place Bethel (meaning house of God).  Jacob learned that wherever he was, God was there, seeking him.

Psalm 139:8-12 declares in lofty poetic language the truth that God is everywhere, in daytime and nighttime, and is seeking fellowship with us:

  “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

   even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

   If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’

   even the darkness is not dark to You; and night is as bright as the day,

   for darkness is as light to You.”

In the daytime the Lord walks with us.  In the night times of our life he gives us songs to sing and light to guide us.  Many of us have no doubt read the autobiography of the inimitable Corrie ten Boon.  She and her sister were in the terrible concentration camp and endured great privation and suffering during that dark night of world history.  Corrie, despite her own suffering, found ways to praise God and to encourage her fellow prisoners.  Her story and her speaking engagements in many places in the world following her release have inspired millions to turn to God for guidance by day and by night. Many of her quotations from her writings inspire and encourage; here are two:  “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off.  You sit still and trust the engineer.” 

In the day times of our life, when things proceed well, may we be aware that “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17, ESV).  When we face challenges in the night times of our life, let us hold steadfastly to the songs He gives us and the strength to endure.

Prayer:  Lord give us stability when we falter, resilience when we fall.
By day and by night, Lord, let us hold on to Your steadying presence.

Let us “never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  Amen.

                          -Ethelene Dyer Jones  02.09.2014