“You are my hope in the day of doom” (Jeremiah 17:17)  

The path of the Christian isn’t always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and sorrow. True, it’s written in God's Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:17); and it’s true, God’s Way is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us although the path of the just is “like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18), sometimes, that light is eclipsed. 

 There are times when clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who’ve rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they’ve basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian walk; they’ve walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Promised Land, they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I’m a child of God, this shouldn’t happen". Oh, no! Don’t doubt you're saved just because you have to walk in darkness for a season! The best of God's saints must drink the bitter along with the sweet; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. 

 No Christian has ever lived who hasn’t suffered times of depression. Perhaps the Lord gave you a smooth and unclouded path in the beginning, because you were weak and timid. But now that you’re stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten limbs of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.