To be near unto God - pagina 47

which leads either to sin or to glory. depends upon the manner in which these sleepless hours are spent. If wakefulness leads to nothing but gloomy and peevish complaint by day and to a rebellious turning over of self on the bed by night, it works sin. But when such sleepless hours are spent in the endeavor to confirm and make more real the fellowship with God, the inner life of the soul is strengthened and upbuilt. Moreover, such godly motions are medicine against sleeplessness itself, while rebellious restlessness fosters and prolongs it. To fight God in such an hour makes discipline It all

restlessness, it gives rise to feelings of oppression and renders sleep more and more impossible. While fellowship with God at such a time brings rest and calm to troubled minds and sleep to weary eyelids. But this is only a by-product. The main point is that a sleepless night is the time in which to seek the Lord, and to test the word of the Psalmist: "It is good for me to hold me fast by God." The strenuous activities of

the constant noise on every side, and the absorbing occupations of the mind by day, hold us off and estrange us from God. But in the quiet hours of night nothing at all diverts us. The darkness is restful to the eyes. The stillness of night puts the ear on the retired list. No work of any sort engages us. Hurry has given place to calm. Nothing, indeed, diverts. There is no one near to trouble us or life,

to detain us. All the conditions are there for undisturbed fellowship with God. Such hours of night invite us, more than any other, to enter into the sanctuary of the Most High.

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