A Song In The Night..

"God, my maker, who giveth songs in the night" (Job 35:10).

Any man can sing in the light of the daytime. When wealth, joy and glory rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise his Maker! One's harp may play fine when the south winds are blowing - those winds from the tropics - winds of warmth and glorious relief (Job 37:9, 17; Ps 126:4). But what about when the north winds begin to roll in? Can that same harp play it's melody when the winds have turned harsh, cold and gloomy (Song 4:16; Prov 25:23a; Jer 4:6)? Will that once singing tongue then possess "joyful lips" and "remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches" (Ps 63:5-6)? Will we find ourselves, like Peter, rejoicing even while suffering shame (Acts 5:41)? Friends, it is easy to sing when we can read the notes by God's daylight; but he is spiritually mature who yet sings when there is not a ray of light to read by.. he who sings from his heart, rather than from his fluctuating circumstance. "In the night his song shall be with me" (Ps 42:8).

It's simple to sing when beautiful flowers are upon the paths we tread.. they're always growing, thriving, and releasing their fragrances. But the true measure of a man will be his ability to sing in the desert, where no green thing grows, and the only scent you can find is that of your own languishing flesh! Here, in the desert night, will be our true test.. will we remember "Thy faithfulness every night" (Ps 92:2), and continue to shout our praises unto God (Acts 16:25)? Will we, even there, "sing aloud upon [our] beds" (Ps 149:5)?

It's effortless to sing when our cups are overflowing, when our health remains strong, or when our night is turned to day. But what will we do "a great while before day", in "a solitary place" (Mk 1:35)? What will the melody of our hearts be then? A true test of one's character is the constant flow of praise which exuberates from his lips, despite the temperature, the trial, the test, or the turbulence around him: "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments" (Ps 119:62).. It was such a song which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Hab 3:17-18).

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" (Phil 4:4)!