Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

July 10– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” 

—Genesis 1:5

The evening was “darkness” and the morning was “light,” and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer, there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but, rather, he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness.

This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities and who ask, “Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?” Yes; for you, like the day, take your name not from the evening but from the morning, and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the primary quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining.

Don’t forget that the evening comes first. Naturally, we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom of darkness drives us to cry out in deep humiliation, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The place of the morning is second; it dawns when grace overcomes nature. John Bunyan once said, “That which is last lasts forever.” That which is first yields in due season to the last, but nothing comes after the last.

You are naturally darkness, but when you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; your sun will never set again. The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God forever, will be a day with no evening but one, sacred, high, eternal noon. [M&E]