_MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK_
"_He hath brought me into darkness, but not into light._"
--LAMENTATIONS iii. 1-9.
But a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in
the darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was
moving toward the light and fragrance of the open country. I entered into
a tunnel in the Black Country in England, but the motion was continued,
and we emerged amid fields of loveliness. And therefore the great thing to
remember is that God's darknesses are not His goals; His tunnels are means
to get somewhere else. Yes, His darknesses are appointed ways to His
light. In God's keeping we are always moving, and we are moving towards
Emmanuel's land, where the sun shines, and the birds sing night and day.
There is no stagnancy for the God-directed soul. He is ever guiding us,
sometimes with the delicacy of a glance, sometimes with the firmer
ministry of a grip, and He moves with us always, even through "the valley
of the shadow of death." Therefore, be patient, my soul! The darkness is
not thy bourn, the tunnel is not thy abiding home! He will bring thee out
into a large place where thou shalt know "the liberty of the glory of the
children of God."