The Substitute for Revelation

“Who giveth songs in the night.” — Job xxxv. io.

There are times in which the heart has to fill the place of the eye. We see nothing; the sky is dark; yet we are not dismayed. There is no ray of light upon our path that we can discern, no opening in the cloud, no rent in the gloom. Yet somehow the heart sings — sings in the shadow, sings in the silence. And at these times we are to take the song as the substitute for the sun. We are to impute to the heart’s singing all that is wanting to the eye’s vision. The song is itself to be our revelation. “If it were not so I would have told you,” says the Lord — would not have suffered you to sing. The heart’s joy demands a contradiction if it be not true. If

HE 2 my soul says “Yea” and God does not say “Nay,” the “Yea” is to prevail. The silence of God is vocal. If hope cries, and He answers not, hope’s cry is to be itself the answer, for He has sent me a wing instead of a star; He has given me a song in the night.

My soul, be not so anxious about the reason of thy peace! Is it not written that there is a peace which passeth understanding. What is that but a song in the night! It is one ot the songs without words. It gives no explanation of its music. Clouds and darkness may be round about thee, and yet thou mayest be able to sing. Do not distress thyself to find a cause for thy joy! Hast thou not read of a bush that was all in flame and yet was not consumed! The facts were all against its permanence; it was unreasonable that it should live. But it did live; and why? Because there was a voice speaking within it, singing within it — against facts, spite of reason, in defiance of circumstances. It was a song without words, a comfort without cause, a strength without the legions of angels. So, ofttimes, shall it be with thee.

There shall be moments in which Thy Gethsemane shall reveal no flower, in which the cup shall not pass, in which the legions of angels shall not come; and yet, strange to say, thou shalt be strong. Thou shalt fly without pinions; thou shalt walk without feet; thou shalt breathe without air; thou shalt praise without words; thou shalt laugh without sunshine; thou shalt bless without knowing why — for the song of thy heart shall itself be thy light, and thy joy shall be only from God.