“Thou hast visited me in the night.” (Psalm 17:3).

Whenever one cannot sleep, because of pain, illness, or distress, night hours are the loneliest and hardest to bear. Darkness closes in and time seems to stand still. At that point we all become like the mariners on the soon-to-be ship-wrecked vessel who “wished for the day” (Acts 27:29).

Believers can use these night seasons to advantage if they realize that the Lord is with them. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5); “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psalm 139:12). We should look for the Lord’s comfort, grace and strength as He visits us in the night. Much can be accomplished through personal prayer and fellowship with the Lord. Many do their best praying in the quietness of the night.

Unbelievers have much to fear about God visiting them in the night. Judas, “then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night” (John 13:30). He went out into a spiritual night that never ended. The five foolish virgins were unprepared at midnight when the bridegroom came and were shut out (Matthew 25:1–12). God said to the rich fool, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:20). The Bible speaks of “outer darkness” where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30), and “the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 13).

Depending on our spiritual condition, the Lord’s visitation in the night can be either bitter or sweet! Receiving Christ as Savior is the only safeguard from eternal darkness. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). NPS