February 8: Disguised Sweetness

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 7
Listen from:
SA 77:4{If we could always say, night after night, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep," receiving in full measure the Lord's quiet gift to His beloved, we should not learn the disguised sweetness of this special word for the wakeful ones. When the wearisome nights come, it is hushing to know that they are appointed. But this is something nearer and closer-bringing, something individual and personal; not only an appointment, but an act of our Father: "Thou holdest mine eyes waking." It is not that He is merely not giving us sleep; it is not a denial, but a different dealing. Every moment that the tired eyes are sleepless, it is because our Father is holding them waking. It seems so natural to say, "How I wish I could go to sleep!" Yet even that restless wish may be soothed by the happy confidence in our Father's hand, which will not relax its hold upon the weary eyelids until the right moment has come to let them fall in slumber.
He hath spoken in the darkness, In the silence of the night,
Spoken sweetly of the Father, words of life and love and light.
Floating thro' the sombre stillness came the loved and loving Voice,
Speaking peace and solemn gladness, that His children might rejoice.
What He tells thee in the darkness, songs He giveth in the night—
Rise and speak it in the morning, rise and sing them in the light!