"And the Lord appeared unto Solomon by night…" 2Chronicles 7:12
Miraculous things happen in the night, in the times of our life where we can hardly see; then we rely on Christ more than before. In the daylight we see clearly all the things of the world, we focus on the things we see but is it hard to believe that the Lord appears by night? Faith is not a sense, sight or reason, but taking God at His word. You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings. God gives us the promises in a quiet hour, God seals covenants with great and gracious words, then He steps back to see how much we believe, then He lets the tempter come, and the test seems to contradict all that He said. It is then that faith wins the crown, when we believe that God appears by night. When it is night, that is the time to look up through the storm, and through the night the pilgrim is heard saying, "I believe God that it shall be even as He told me." Perhaps I can best show you this hidden treasure in an old Chinese legend I heard of before.
Listen to this, there was an old Chinese, a very old man named Sai, and he had only one son and one horse. Once the horse ran away, and Sai was very worried. Only one horse and it was now lost. Someone said, "Don't suffer, wait a little." And when he did, the horse came back. Not long after this, the only son fell from the horse and broke his leg. What a sorrow had poor Sai then! He could not eat or sleep, and he could not even attend well to his sons needs. Only one son and crippled! But someone said, "More patience, Sai!" Soon after the accident, a war broke out, and so all the young men went to war. None of them returned. Only Sai's son, the crippled, stayed at home and he remained to live long to his father's joy!
You see, God can take anything, dark and bad, the worse and the accidents and turn it into something good in the end. Only Jesus can take your storms and turn them into rainbows! What a mighty God we serve! Look up, and you will see God appear by night. He is righteous.
A devotion of the night
July 8, 2002