When we retire to our bedrooms or private spaces, we should lift our
1. Let us lie down with thankfulness to God.
When we retire to our bedrooms or private spaces, we should lift our hearts to God, the God of our mercies, and make him the object of our praises every time we go to bed. We surely have no lack of reasons to give thanks if we are not lacking a thankful heart. Let us then engage in this pleasant duty, this work that is its own reward. The evening sacrifice was always meant to be a sacrifice of praise.
a. We have reason to be thankful for the many mercies of the past day, which we ought to review specifically.
Let us say, "Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits." Observe the constant flow of mercies, uninterrupted and unbroken day after day. Consider the particular instances of mercy that have made some days remarkable and memorable. It is God who has granted us life and favour; it is his visitation that preserves our spirits.
Reflect on the many calamities we are preserved from each day—the dangers we are aware of and perhaps have narrowly escaped, as well as those we were not even conscious of. Think, too, of the judgments we deserve yet have been spared from, many of which others, better than we, now endure. Let all our bones say, "Lord, who is like unto thee?" For it is God who keeps all our bones so that not one of them is broken. Truly, it is because of his mercies that we are not consumed.
Now think of the many comforts that surround us daily, for which we owe everything to God's providence. Every bite of food we eat, every
sip we drink is a mercy. Every step we take and every breath we draw is mercy. All the joy we find in the love and kindness of our family, the companionship and helpfulness of friends, the success in our work, and the pleasure we find in it—all of this comes from God's hand. Whether it is Zebulun rejoicing in his going out or Issachar enjoying peace in his tents, let us acknowledge it all with gratitude and to the praise of God.
Even if the day has not passed without some difficulty or disappointment, we must not let that hinder our praise. Whatever has happened, God is still good. It is our duty to give thanks in every situation and to bless the name of the Lord when he takes away, as well as when he gives. Our afflictions are few and deserved a thousand times over; our mercies are many and forfeited a thousand times over.
b. We have reason to be thankful for the coming of evening, which calls us to rest and lie down.
The same wisdom, power, and goodness that makes the morning also makes the evening rejoice. We should be grateful for the closing of the curtains of the night, which grant us rest, just as we are for the opening of the eyelids of morning, which call us to our labours. When God divided light from darkness and appointed their respective times, he saw that it was good. In a world of mixtures and changes, nothing could be more fitting.
Let us give thanks, then, to the God who forms the light and creates the darkness. Let us trust that in the cycles of time, as well as in the cycles of life's events, the darkness of affliction may be just as necessary for us in its season as the light of prosperity. If the worker
longs for the shadow of evening to come, let him be thankful when it does, for the burden and heat of the day are not perpetual.
c. We have reason to be thankful for a quiet place to lie down in.
We are not driven out from among people, as Nebuchadnezzar was, to lie down with the beasts of the field. Though we were born like the wild ass's colt, yet we do not have, like the wild ass, the wilderness for our habitation, or a desolate and barren land for our dwelling. We are not forced to wander in deserts and mountains, hiding in dens and caves of the earth, as many of God's dear saints and servants have had to do—of whom the world was not worthy. Instead, the good Shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures.
Let us also be grateful that we do not have, as Jacob did, the cold ground for a bed and a stone for a pillow, which even so, one would gladly accept if it came with the comfort of Jacob's dream.
d. We have reason to be thankful that we are not forced to sit up.
Our Master not only allows us to lie down but also ensures that nothing prevents us from doing so. Many go to bed but cannot lie down due to painful or debilitating illnesses that make lying down impossible to endure. Our bodies are made of the same frail mould, and it is by the Lord's mercies that we are not afflicted in this way.
Many are kept up at night by sickness in their families—perhaps their children are unwell, and they must tend to them. If God removes sickness from among us and keeps it at bay so that no plague comes near our dwellings, even in a large household where