DAY AND NIGHT EXPERIENCE
His delight is in the law of Jehovah;
And on his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalms 1:2)
THIS “day and night” does not mean, necessarily, the twenty-four hours of time. It has reference to the daytime of the soul—when it has light, and everything seems to be going smoothly, and it can see the evidences that the divine law is working; and to the nighttime of the soul—when a person has gone as far as the light of his own consciousness will take him in a given direction, and when he must turn within, close his eyes and be still, and wait for more light.
You may not see just how the law of the Lord is working for you, but it is working—just as surely as the law of growth is operative during the nighttime. The nighttime is necessary to the proper growth and development of plants, just as the daytime and sunlight with their warmth are necessary.
We wouldn’t say that “business is dull” with the plants during the night or that they are not receiving their good. On the contrary, we have many times seen quite a transformation worked through the night. A plant that had seemed almost dead for lack of moisture and the ability to draw from the earth the required elements will be crisp and strong and very desirable in the morning! Had it not been for the night with its blessings, that plant would have ceased to grow and to yield its helpfulness to us.
When a nighttime comes to us, we should use it as a quiet time of great help. If we do, it will afford us time for meditation and the careful study of ourselves and our present methods and plan of service. It will cause us to turn more to the universal law and its operation and less to our own personal efforts and the ways of others.
In this nighttime we are to rest in the spiritual knowledge and assurance that our growth is precious in the sight of the Lord. We are to rejoice that the divine law is ever operative, ever working to prosper all of God’s children. We are to give thanks that our affairs are in the Father’s hands and under the management of divine wisdom.
Then we shall rise up to be glad for this “night” in which we have turned within to the great stream of light, and life, and love, and substance, and power, and have let them flow silently into the consciousness, to raise it to the Jesus Christ understanding of oneness with all good and ability to fulfill the divine plan. As we do this, we will know that we are
“Like a tree planted by the streams of water,
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also doth not wither;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psalms 1:3)
