Psalms 78:14

In the daytime also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

Day and night leading

Did some man imagine this? I thank him. It was worth being born to imagine this conception of God. It is so tender, so fatherlike; it is charged to the full with inspiration of the best kind; it makes all things feel securer; it brings to the soul contributions from all quarters, contributions that increase its wealth, that improve its quality, that inspire its courage,

1. A startling statement that people were led in the daytime. Surely there is no need for leadership in the season of light. We have reason, experience, natural sagacity, human society, a thousand other ministries all operating in the daytime: what need have we for divinity, supernaturalness, providence--that higher rule which is called Divine? A very proper question, admitting of a very satisfactory reply. It is in the daytime men go most astray. Very few people go astray at night. There is a natural fear, which becomes a natural caution and restriction of liberty, and men say they had better wait until the light comes before they go out on any adventure. How tempting is the daylight I How well it would have been for some men had there been no daylight! How much there is in that daylight to excite the spirit of adventure! Yet, properly used, it is the very blessing of God, the great opportunity of life--so nearly do death and life lie together. God led His people in the daytime with a cloud. It required a poet to think of that.

2. Even the night need not shut out the light of God: “all the night” He led them “with a light of fire.” There must be night. That is strange, but true. There must be darkness. Why cannot we always have holiday, festival, noontide? If we close the Bible, we do not alter the facts of life. Better keep the Bible at hand as the deepest and wisest interpreter of all the mystery of existence. The Bible comes into the night of our experience, and says, I will set it with stars all over, so that there shall not be room to put another diamond in all the coronal; and as for this cold night, I will light a fire--not a crackling flame, but a glowing fire--and the darkness shall make it the more precious. How Providence adapts its communications to circumstances. A cloud would have been no use at night; a fire would have been wholly out of keeping with the poetry of daylight. Providence knows what is best. The fitness of things is a religious argument. There is a shaping Hand about. What is my proof of the existence of God? My own lifetime, that is a tract I never bought, and cannot sell, and the more I read it the more I pray. Providence brings with it not only a light at night-time, but “a light of fire.” It might have been another light, but it would not have fitted all the occasion with so exquisite an adaptation. The night is cold, so the light is of fire. Other light may glare and dazzle, gleam upon the eyes so as to hurt the vision, but oh! there are two comforts in the household fire--the warmth and the light; not a light that could be seen afar, but a light just adapted to the next step or two--and so warm, it makes the house. And the fire is the crown of the winter. It is the very centre and joy of our Christmas festivity. However far you stray away in the snow it is the fire in the house that is getting ready for you the very delight of your enjoyment. There may be more barbarism than civilization, there may be more wickedness than goodness, there may be more desert than garden; and it is not for us to explain why these things should be or how they came to be; the counsel is in heaven, and we are living from without and from above, and by and by we shall be called in to hear how it all came to pass, and how the very darkness was made into a temple, how the very wilderness was needful for the culture of our life, and how our necessity was one of our chief riches. How regularly the day comes, how regularly the night; how regularly, therefore, the cloud and the pillar of glowing, illuminating fire. (J. Parker, D. D.)

God’s unceasing care

“All the night!” how much is often conveyed in that word “all”: to have lain awake all night without one snatch of sleep; to have tossed to and fro, all night, wondering how long the hours are; these are some of the experiences of those who are familiar with this little word “all” in connection with “night.” The soul has its seasons of protracted trial, when it speaks of “all” night. Long-continued temptations, or depressions, or struggles, make it talk of “all night.” And now, that which so cheers us is the thought that there is no night too long for God. He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; whatever may be the length of our night the Lord is unwearied through it all. Man’s watching is exemplified by the disciples in Gethsemane; God’s by the pillar of fire. “Could ye not watch one hour?” is the record of the one; “all the night” is the record of the other. Is it not a blessed thought that, however much we may weary our fellow-watchers, so that one by one they drop off, by reason of the weariness of the flesh, we never weary out our God! And as God watches with us if we be wakeful, so also He watches over us if we be at rest. We never can enjoy any real repose of soul unless it be in the consciousness that God is near us, above us, manifesting Himself for us. A watchful and a watching God is the believer’s warrant for repose; we repose beneath, when we are sure that He watches above. And God’s watch is an undivided one--“all the night.” He does not take us up, where another has laid us down. We have not to do with a new watcher, who has to learn from his predecessor all the peculiarities of our condition; where we are sore; how we must be handled; what are our peculiarities; what our special needs; it is the one watcher all through. And hence may God’s people be assured of true tenderness; and consummate skill; and an anticipation of all their needs; our Divine Watcher has been too long with us not to know all we want. (P. B. Power, M. A.)