"Day Follows Night"

Dear friends,

Tomorrow, at noon, I will have an appointment with my doctor at Hopkins. We’ll be discussing where I’m at as well as next steps. I would be grateful for your prayers that God would guide both the doctor and my parents and me. Thank you!

As I continue to wait on the Lord for His deliverance, I know that I am only kept from moment to moment by His strength and grace. Tonight is particularly difficult. Thank you for praying for me. The climb up this mountain is steeper than I ever dreamed, yet He does take me “from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7).

Here is a reading from Spurgeon that my dad shared with me the other day. It speaks directly to my struggles and fears, and I wanted to share it with you, along with a few thoughts which will follow.

Why am I mourning? - Psalm 42:9

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 would be 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 more heavy tempest of despair? Do you not know that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope then! Hope always! For God does not fail you. Do you not know that your God loves you in the midst of all this? Mountains, when hidden by darkness, are just as real as in the day, and God’s love is as true to you now as it was in your bright moments. No father always chastens: your Lord hates the rod as much as you do; he only cares to use it for that reason which 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 its top — your covenant God. You shall yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led you through them, and worked out your 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 your exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then “for ever with the Lord,” your bliss shall never wane. – C.H. Spurgeon (Evening – July 21st)

How quickly hope can slip out of sight. Yet, there WILL be a dawn, a spring, an end to the darkness. It may lie around the next bend, or it may come with the dawn of Eternity’s splendor, but either way, it is coming and coming soon. Our conception of time, especially when suffering, is limited. It can seem like forever. But only Eternity is forever. And all my days have been written in His book (Psalm 139:16). He not only knows their number but every joy and sorrow that fills them. He keeps me through each moment of glory or agony, and He will keep me“until the morning dawns and the shadows flee away” (Song of Sol.).

Thank you for waiting with me through the long, dark night and assuring me of the coming dawn.

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. – Psalm 126:5-6