Spurgeon - Morning & Evening
Go to Morning
Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full—man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him—any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds blow—the difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skillful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by—who sings from his heart.
No man can make a song in the night of himself; he may attempt it—but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave songs, fashioning them wherever I go out into the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and with what shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord—where there are no jewels? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health—and I can sing God's praise. But silence my tongue, lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God's high praises, unless He Himself gives me the song? No, it is not in man's power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lips!
It was a divine song, which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Then, since our Maker gives songs in the night, let us wait upon Him for the music. O chief musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon us—but tune our lips to the melody of thanksgiving!
Courtesy of Grace Gems! Used by permission.