"But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night" (Job 35:10). Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest or sends home a loaded argosy (fleet of ships). It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds blow—the difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skillful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by—who sings from his heart. No man can make a song in the night of himself; he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave songs, fashioning them wherever I go out of the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and wherewith shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord where no jewels are? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health, and I can sing God’s praise: silence my tongue, lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God’s high praises, unless He Himself give me the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar coal shall touch his lip. It was a divine song which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Then, since our Maker gives songs in the night, let us wait upon Him for the music. O Thou Chief Musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon us, but tune Thou our lips to the melody of thanksgiving.
[For any who are under the false illusion that they are somehow growing in perfection and holiness, consider carefully the following excerpt taken from a letter by John Newton (preacher and author of the hymn, "Amazing Grace") to a friend, written on Nov. 23, 1774.] I have no idea of any permanent state in this life, that shall make my experience cease to be a state of warfare and humiliation. At my first setting out, indeed, I thought to be better, and to feel myself better, from year to year. I expected, by degrees, to attain everything that I then comprised in my idea of a saint. I thought my grain of grace, by much diligence and careful improvement, would, in time, amount to a pound. That pound, in a farther space of time, to a talent, and then I hoped to increase from one talent to many, so that supposing the Lord should spare me a competent number of years, I pleased myself with the thoughts of dying rich. But, alas! These golden expectations have been like South Sea dreams. I have lived hitherto a poor sinner, and I believe I shall die one. Have I then gained nothing by waiting upon the Lord? Yes, I have gained that which proofs of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of my heart, as I hope, by the Lord’s blessing, have, in some measure, taught me to know what I mean, when I say, "Behold, I am vile!" In connection with this, I have gained such experience of the wisdom, power, and compassion of my Redeemer, the need, the worth of His blood, righteousness, ascension, and intercession, the glory that He displays in pardoning iniquity and sin, and passing by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage, that my soul cannot but cry out, "Who is a God like unto Thee?" –John Newton
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