“But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night?” (Job 35:10).

It is easy to sing when the sun is shining and God is blessing, but quite another matter to sing when the night is dark and afflictions are almost overwhelming. In such times it is imperative to remember that God is our Maker, and we can trust Him. It is then that He will give us a song of praise, even in the night seasons. “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life” (Psalm 42:7,8).

It was at midnight in a Roman dungeon with their feet bound fast in the stocks, their clothes ripped off, and their backs severely beaten, that “Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake . . . and every one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:25,26). Neither Paul, nor Silas, nor the other prisoners, nor their jailer, would ever forget those songs in the night!

Just as they all went out into the dark night to Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples He was going out to die and that all of them would “be offended because of me this night.” Yet, before they went, they stopped to sing a hymn. Then, “when they had sung an hymn, they went out,” and no doubt each long remembered that song in the night (Mark 14:26,27).

May God help each of us also to say with the psalmist: “I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search” (Psalm 77:6). At such times we do remember that God is indeed our Maker, who gives songs—even in the night. HMM