The Glory of Morning

“And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord” — Exod. xvi. 7.

It is in the morning of life, 0 Lord, that I see Thy glory. In the midday I see Thy helpfulness; Thou art then to me the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, a refuge from the burden and the heat. In the evening I see Thy faithfulness; I behold the retrospect of all that thou hast done, and lo, it is all very good. But the morning is the season of my implicit trust, perfectly implicit because not yet founded on experience. I trust Thee at midday because I feel Thy help; I trust thee at even because I trace Thy plan, but I trust Thee at morning without any reason save the morning’s glow in my heart. I trust Thee as the lark trusts the morning air into which it soars and through which it sings. I trust Thee by an instinct of my being. I trust Thee without experience, before trial, irrespective of argument, in defiance of difficulty; there is no vision but the brightness of Thy face.

My God, give me back my youth; I can regain it in Thee. Let the shadows of my life be rekindled into morning’s glow, let my heart be lit with Thine eternal youth. Thou hast promised us eternal life, and what is that? Not merely life for ever, but life for ever young. Thine eternal life can make me a child again, a child without childishness. 0 Thou, on whose bloom time breathes not, who art the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, bathe me in those fountains of the morning whence Thou hast the dew of Thy youth. Bathe me in the ocean of that love in which there is no variableness nor the least shadow of turning, that the pulses of this heart may be renewed. Then shall I have the bright and morning star, and the dayspring from on high shall rise within me. Then shall creation break forth into gladness, as in the day when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy; I shall see the glory of life when Thy morning is in my soul.