十二月二十三日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1223.mp3″]
经文: 黑夜也属祢。（诗篇七十四：16）
主，当夕阳西下时，祢并没有离开宝座，让我们在漫长寒夜中孤苦无依地成为罪之猎物。祢的眼睛犹如天上众星看顾我们，祢的双臂犹如天空群星环抱我们。月亮的影响力在祢的手中。当我午夜醒来，饱受痛苦煎熬时，祢于我是何等甘甜。在主的管理下，苦难的夜晚也如同明亮的夏日一样处处欢乐。耶稣在暴风雨之中，祂的爱如同斗篷将夜晚包裹，信心的眼睛就能见到里面的爱。从黄昏至破晓，永恒的守望者注视着祂的众圣徒。为了祂百姓的最大好处，祂统管着永夜的阴影和露珠。我们听到耶和华说：“我造光，又造暗。……造作这一切的是我耶和华。”（赛四十五：7）灵里冷漠和罪恶也是上帝所预知的。当真理的祭坛被污秽，上帝的道路被离弃时，主的仆人忧伤流泪却不必沮丧，因为最黑暗的时刻也是在主的手中。黑夜不久就要过去。在我们看来是失败的，在主可能是得胜的。
Evening, December 23
Scripture: “The night also is thine.”(Psalm 74:16)
Yes, Lord, thou dost not abdicate thy throne when the sun goeth down, nor dost thou leave the world all through these long wintry nights to be the prey of evil; thine eyes watch us as the stars, and thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky. The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are in thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.
The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes his saints, and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for his people’s highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, “I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord’s servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their end at his bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to him.
“Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light;
Since the Lord himself is here,
’Tis not meet that we should fear.”
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