“Thou art my hope in the day of evil.”
Jeremiah 42:17
The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine. He has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace”‘ (Proverbs 3:17). It is a great truth that trust in God brings a man happiness below as well as bliss above. Experience tells us that the course of the just is “as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). Sometimes, however, that light is eclipsed. At certain periods, clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season. They have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded. They say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh, do not say this. The best of God’s saints must experience trials. The dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity. Perhaps the Lord allotted you a smooth and unclouded path at first because you were weak and timid. Now that you are stronger in the spiritual life you must enter on the rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempest to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope. [1]
[1] Morning by Morning, C. H. Spurgeon (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1984), p. 122.
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