July 21, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Why go I mourning?" — Psalm 42:9 · KJV

Can you answer this, believer? Can you find any reason why you are so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told you that the night would never end in day? Who told you that the sea of circumstances would ebb out until there was nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told you that the winter of your discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow and ice and hail to deeper snow, and yet heavier tempests of despair? Do you not know that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope, then! Hope ever! For God does not fail you. Do you not know that your God loves you in the midst of all this? Mountains, when hidden in darkness, are as real as in daylight; and God's love is as true to you now as in your brightest moments. No father chastens always: your Lord hates the rod as much as you do; He only cares to use it for the reason that should make you willing to receive it — namely, that it works your lasting good. You shall yet climb Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it, your covenant God. You shall yet, amid the splendors of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led you through them and wrought your lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with your exultant joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then, "for ever with the Lord," your bliss shall never wane. Faint not, nor fear: His arms are near; He changes not, and you are dear. Only believe, and you shall see that Christ is all in all to you.