–Revelation 22:1 (NKJV)
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It’s been a while since I mentioned a “hymn at midnight,” but one has been running through my mind.  Yesterday I wrote that when we become fully awake that we shall see Jesus in His glory.  This hymn was written by Charles H. Gabriel, a prolific composer.  He wrote between 7000-8000 songs, along with twenty-three choir cantatas, forty-one Christmas cantatas, and edited over thirty-five hymnbooks.
       But back to the thought of being fully awake.  It is then that we shall see Him face to face.  It is then, when the trials, toils, and troubles of this life are over that we will, upon death, actually become fully awake when we enter the portals of glory.  There will be no night there, no sleeping–O that will be glory!

          “When all my labors and trials are o’er,
          And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
          Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.”

What is the old saying, “born once, die twice; born twice, die once”?  To an extent, as we walk through this life we are awake.  Perhaps not fully for along the way we get groggy because of the work of the day and the fight of the battle.  We wonder, when oh when will it be over and then we realize that it is only through His grace that we will waken in glory.  There is a wonderful term in the second verse, “infinite.”  Stop, ponder this!  His infinite grace!  It is what will carry us over through the veil.

          “When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
          I am accorded in heaven a place,
          Just to be there and to look on His face,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.”

Our feet get sore along the way, our legs ache with weariness.  But on the other side there will be friends with arms outstretched to welcome.  Joy, unspeakable joy, unfathomable joy will course around us.  Then we will awaken fully, and look up on the face of Jesus, and see Him smile–WOW!  Imagine!  We shall finally see Him face to face; we shall see Him as He is–o that will be glory!

          “Friends will be there I have loved long ago;
          Joy like a river around me will flow;
          Yet, just a smile from my Saviour, I know,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.

                    O that will be glory for me,
                    Glory for me, glory for me;
                    When by His grace I shall look on His face,
                    That will be glory, be glory for me.”

                    –Nathan West  (Haunted West)

       “I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD…”

                    –Psalm 132:4-5 (NKJV)
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Have you ever had trouble staying awake?  I remember one recruit that was caught sleeping while on guard duty in Basic Training.  My, oh my, did he receive some special instructions from the D.I.  Thanksgiving meal, it will surely bring on the heaviness of the eyelids.   Perhaps while driving you have felt yourself running off the road and those little rumble strips brought you out of your slumber.  They not only gave you a little tingle, but they quickly awakened you.  Sleeping is vital to our well-being, however, to fall asleep at the wrong time could be dangerous.
       At night, when I lay on my bed I try to always pray, I fall asleep.  In fact, in my life I have found that if a person needs sleep they should start praying.  It used to really bother me, but I have read that I’m in good company.   Luke writes, “But Peter and those with him [James and John] were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.” (9:32, NKJV)  Matthew doesn’t say that they were sleeping but he does bring out a very good point, “When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” (17:8, NKJV)
       Look again at the verse from Luke, “when they were fully awake, they saw His glory…”  Yes, God often gives us blessed sleep, peaceful sleep; it is refreshing to the body as well as to the soul.  But…notice here, “when they were fully awake.”  I want to shout at myself as I write this–wake up, oh my soul!  We cannot work while we sleep, we cannot further the kingdom while we sleep.  We cannot be faithful or work any acts of faith while we sleep.  George Matheson proclaims, “It is from my waking soul, from my reasoning soul, from my prudent and poising and pondering soul that He values the expression of my faith.”
       I have seen where I am going through God’s Word.  I have known whom I have believed.  It is this seeing and knowing–my experience–that I can trust in God.  Yes, now I see only as “through a glass darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV) or as the NKJV translates it, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face…”  I know, I reason, and I believe the words of John, “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2, NKJV)  Wake up–let the rumble strips of the Holy Spirit awaken you–to see only Jesus.
       There are times to sleep; times when the body needs to be rejuvenated.  Let me say here, beware of spiritual sleep, which can bring on physical sleep.  The Garden, that place where Jesus agonized tells us of these three close disciples who were sleeping.  If Jesus had any close friends it was Peter, James, and John.  But here, in His time of greatest need, they were asleep.  Notice the words written in Matthew.  Jesus had already moved away from his disciples and had been praying.  “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”…  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them.  ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?…'” (Matthew 26:40-41,43-45 NKJV)
       Yes, we need a “little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” (Proverbs 24:33, NKJV) but don’t overdo it.  Jesus says that He had to be busy while it was day and that admonition follows on down to us for “the night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4, NKJV)  But remember, it is when we are fully awake that we can look up to Jesus and fully see Him in His glory.

                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Way of the Coyote)

       “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

                    –Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
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Last night was a dark night, not because the waning moon is just starting, but because of the evil that was represented.  John tells us that, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:5-6, NKJV)  If you’ve ever watched horror movies, of which I do not, but I know that much of the action takes place at night–in the darkness.
     There is a terror of night, make no mistake about it.  Objects do not look the same as they did in the daylight.  They seem to take on a sinister form at times.  Evil lurks and loves the night, the darkness.  True, it is becoming more and more prevalent in the day, but it is still the nighttime that feeds it.  The majority of shootings take place at night, as well as other types of crimes.  But Christian, take heart, “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night…” (Psalm 91:5, NKJV)  That is a promise mixed with a command.  Because He is light, we can rest and have peace in the darkest night.
     However, there is another type of darkness.  It is the darkness of the soul.  Think of Joseph, escaping death, but thrown in the pit to eventually be sold as a slave by his brothers.  Darkness, distress…  Moses, the shining prince of Egypt, flees to the wilderness and for forty years his soul is in turmoil.  The soul is in darkness, but then–upon the side of a mountain a bush that is burning but not consumed–the light of God.  Read the accounts of Jeremiah, how he faced the darkness.
     St. John of the Cross wrote that, “God leads into the dark night those He desires to purify from all imperfections so that He may bring them farther onward.”  We, mankind, and believers as well, often spend too much time on the things of the flesh rather than mortifying the flesh.  When this takes place God often will send darkness.  A time, hopefully, of reflection, a time to get our eyes back on the light.  Thomas Merton said this, “When the time comes to enter the darkness in which we are naked and helpless and alone; in which we see the insufficiency of our greatest strength and the hollowness of our strongest virtues; in which we have nothing of our own to rely on, and nothing in our nature to support us, and nothing in the world to guide us or give us light–then we find out whether or not we live by faith.”
     Faith–without it we cannot please God.  He wants people of faith, but sometimes He must send the darkness to purify our faith.  No matter how many and great our virtues we cannot purify ourselves.  No matter the hours put in serving God, it is not enough to bring purification.  God sends the darkness to bring us out into greater light.  This is a time of trouble for the soul.  Peter in the dark of the night denied the Lord.  Think of the anguish in his soul.  Judas, the Betrayer, was in darkness, his soul embittered by his deed.  Two men facing the darkness of their soul; two different choices were made.
     In the darkness we either sleep or we continue walking.  The believer does not leave the path to glory simply because it is night.  Depression, despair, distress may come but we continue onward to our destination.  The darkness is there, but it is only a hindrance.  We must walk more carefully; other senses must be heightened.  Prayer, meditation, reading of the Word, practical application of the Word, just as in life must be adhered to in the darkness.  We hold tighter to His hand, we follow more closely to His guidance.  Because of that fellowship grows, relationship deepens, trust is solidified, and we continue on by faith.  Not faith in ourselves, not faith even that we are going to make it, but faith in the One who is there beside us even if we do not feel His presence.