"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether."—SONG OF SOLOMON 2:17

Sometimes, neither sun nor moon appear for a long season to cheer the believer in the dark.

Terrible depression comes over us; we walk in darkness, we see no light.

How heavy a true heart may sometimes become; there is a needs-be that we be in heaviness through manifold trials. There is not only a needs-be for the trials, but also for the heaviness which comes out of them. It is not always that a man can gather himself together, and defy the fierce blasts, and walk through fire and through water with heavenly equanimity. No, brethren, "a wounded spirit who can bear?" and that wounded spirit may be the portion of some of the very fairest of the sons of God; indeed, the LORD has some weakly, sickly sons who, nevertheless, are the very pick of His family.

It is not always the strong ones by whom He sets the most store; but, sometimes, those that seem to be driven into a corner, whose days are spent in mourning, are among the most precious in His sight.

Yes, the darkness of the child of God may be comparative darkness, and it may to a great extent be positive darkness.  But yet it can only be temporary darkness. The same text which suggests night promises dawn: "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away." 

There is a gathering gloom over the church and the world. It seems as if night were coming on, and such a night as makes one sigh and cry, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."  Some of us are obliged to go sorrowing when we look upon the state of the church and the world.

The old spirit, the old fire that once burned in the midst of the saints of God, is it there still,? Is it burning very low at present? We want—I cannot say how much we want a revival of pure and undefiled religion in this our day. Will it come? Why should it not come? If we long for it, if we pray for it, if we believe for it, if we work for it, and prepare for it, will it come?

The day will break, and the shadows will flee away. The mockers think that they have buried our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps they have; but He will have a resurrection. The cry is, "Who will roll  away the stone?"

August 9th, 1896,
Charles H. Spurgeon [paraphrased]