“God will help . . when morning dawns.” Psalm 46:5 NAS
“Don’t doubt in the dark what God has promised in the light.”
My thoughts today are about “watching for morning.”
As a young teen, I worked a summer at my grandfather’s truck stop on a busy highway in southern Illinois. I worked overnight until 7 am. (I did it just for pinball money, really). There wasn’t much business, except for an occasional long distance truck driver traveling through the night hours.
The nights seemed too long as the hours wore on. Staying awake, let alone alert, was not an easy task. As the clock ticked slowly on, I found myself watching for morning. I just wanted the night to be over; I wanted the sun to rise and the darkness to be gone.
But there can be a darkness of the soul when a time in one’s life seems much the same. You just want morning to come. Things aren’t clear; not much is changing; you grow increasingly weary, and it feels like the day will never dawn. Maybe you are walking in one of those dark nights right now. Those are not easy times, nor pleasant times. Have you ever felt that way?
There was another time when I watched for morning. A terrible highway accident had taken the life of my Dad and little sister, leaving my Mom badly injured with no promise of ever walking again. Alone after a cross-country flight, I lay across the bed in a motel in southern Missouri across the highway from the hospital where my Mom had been taken. I felt like life had drained out.
The future seemed cruelly stolen and a new day seemed distant and unreachable – until I reached for my Bible and randomly opened to these words, “My help comes form the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth. The One who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, He . . never tires and never sleeps. The Lord Himself watches over you. The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon by night . . The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” Psalm 121:2-8 NLT. Suddenly, I was not afraid of the night; I knew a new day would dawn and with it bring new hope. I learned this truth from a book written by Ron Mehl, God Works the Night Shift. Your God “never tires and never sleeps . . and keeps watch over you.”
In the dark, things don’t look as clear as they did before. Such times cause much inner turmoil, creating uncertainty and tempting you to question God. Doubt floods the places where you once were sure. Questions overwhelm the frail answers that were good enough before. You begin to wonder if a new day will ever come – but it will. It always does. Here is what the Bible promises, “Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5 NLT.
Life can be lived with such a confidence that God has a new day that will dawn for you. Whatever the present moment, “God will help . . when morning comes!” Remember, the greatest miracle ever – the resurrection of Jesus – came on a morning after the darkest of nights.
My prayer for you today is: don’t give up in the dark, but watch for morning.