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God's Lessons of the Night

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 4, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 14.

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God's Lessons of the Night

By Daniel Nettleton

DANIEL NETTLETON
“The darkness he called night.” Gen. 1:5.
WERE we to walk with the Lord and listen to his teaching from the written Word and from the open book of nature, our hearts would burn within us, and we should exclaim, with the great apostle, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
The Lord’s school is open day and night. All who will may go to this school and be taught of God. But during the day men are so anxious and busy about many things, and, like Martha, are not choosing the better part, that God can not get their attention. “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.” He makes not only the outgoings of the morning, but also the coming of the evening, a time of rejoicing and a season of helpful instruction.
Though all the angels should cease their singing, and all men refuse to praise the Lord, yet the heavens would declare his glory, and the firmament show his handiwork. Day unto day would utter speech, and night unto night show knowledge.
The great temple of God is ever resounding with its Maker’s praise. The trees clap their hands, the floods lift up their voices, the mountains and hills break forth into singing, and the starry hosts of night are—“Ever singing as they shine,” The hand that made us is divine.”
He has promised that if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth to usshall be as the morning, and his blessing upon us as the dew of night.
In the tension of the times in which we live, how difficult it is to get an opportunity to be alone with God for meditation and prayer! In this time when many are running to and fro and knowledge is being increased; in these days of newspapers, automobiles, and flying-machines, men have little or no time for the Bible and prayer. Our daily life is full of stir, noise, and outward show. Men are in the great rush of money-getting and pleasure-seeking, and our religious life takes the form of this age of intense activity. There is too much bustle and outward show about our religion. God said he would be as the dew unto Israel. The dew comes unobserved and in the quiet of the night, and settles upon us as the dew of night.
Those who read the Bible will see that God has a “night-school.” It was at evening that the angels came to Sodom; and before the morning dawned that wicked city was in flames.
It was in the evening that Isaac went out into the field to pray.
It was in the solitude of night, by the light of the moon and stars, that Nehemiah beheld the desolation of Jerusalem, and there, at night, on his knees alone with God, he won a greater victory than any king with all his armies.
Daniel and his companions sought God to know the king’s dream, and “then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.”
In a night-school Nicodemus learned the important and precious lesson, “Ye must be born again,” from a Teacher who came from God.
On the stormy Sea of Galilee in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to his toiling and frightened disciples, and spoke those blessed words, “Peace, be still.”
Paul and Silas prayed at night in the jail, and God sent an earthquake and shook the old penitentiary from turret to foundation-stones, and that night souls were born into the kingdom of Christ.
An angel visited Paul by night on a stormy sea, and he came forth to the seamen and captain of the ship with words of courage and good cheer.
Jesus chose the night season for private meditation and communion with his Heavenly Father. We read of his rising up a great while before day and going to a solitary place for prayer. Again, it is recorded of him, “He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer.”
The transfiguration was a night scene of glory. Jesus took three of his disciples and went up into a mountain to pray; and as he prayed, his countenance was altered, and he was transfigured. We shall also be altered and transfigured if we pray as he prayed.
If we would seek the Lord by day or by night as these men of the Bible did, we should have similar experiences. And would not the angels’ visits, and the victories over self and sin, and the great things accomplished for God be worth all our time and effort? God has promised to hear and answer our prayers when we seek him with all our hearts. His thoughts to us-ward are thoughts of peace, and he desires to give us a happy future, but he can not put his blessing upon a “wicked and slothful servant.” Nicodemus became a disciple of Christ, a helper in the time of his great need, because of that night visit with Jesus. Moses became God’s messenger to Pharaoh and the deliverer of Israel from Egyptian bondage because he turned aside to commune with God at the burning bush.
When Jesus came down from his night of prayer in the mountain, he found the poor and needy waiting to be helped by his holy ministry, and he continued to go about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. So when we come from the quiet seasons of communion with God, our faces will shine with holy joy, and we, too, shall be like the dew unto Israel.
Port Townsend, Wash.