Psalms 17:3

Psalms 17:3

The religious aspects of night are many.

I. Viewed in its relations to the life of man, it strikes us, first of all and pre-eminently, as an interruption. It breaks in upon and suspends human occupations, of whatever kind; it writes on the face of the heavens the veto of God on uninterrupted work. This enforced suspension of activity suggests, not merely the limited stock of strength at our disposal, but it also reminds us that we have a higher life than that which is represented and made the most of by the activity of this life, which will last when all that belongs to this life shall have passed away, a life for the nutriment and development of which God thus makes provision, and invites us to make provision, lest we should be swept without thought, without purpose, down the stream of time into the vast eternity that awaits us.

II. Night suggests danger. The daylight is of itself protection. Night is the opportunity of wild beasts and of evil men; they ply their trade during its dark and silent hours. He who gave us life can alone guarantee to us the permanence of the gift, since He can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, and can control the destructive force of nature and the sequence of events.

III. Night is a time during which God often speaks solemnly to the soul of man. (1) The sleep of the body is not always the sleep of the soul. If the Bible is to guide us, there can be no doubt that dreams have often been made the vehicle of the communication of the Divine will to man, and that it leads us to expect that they may be so again. (2) But it is not in dreams that God generally speaks to man in the silent hours of the night. Never does God speak more solemnly, more persuasively, to the human soul than during the waking hours of the night. Sleeplessness may be a very great blessing, if we only think of it, first, as a part of the will of God concerning us, and, next, if we are open to its many opportunities.

H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 193 (see also Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxvi., p. 161).