Why go I mourning? (Psalm 42:9) – c.h. spurgeon

Canst thou answer this, believer?
     Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning 
          instead of rejoicing?
     Why yield to gloomy anticipations?  
              
Who told thee that the night would never end in day?

Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out
     till there should be nothing left
          but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty?

Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed
     from frost to frost,
          from snow, and ice,
               and hail,
                    to deeper snow,
          and yet more heavy tempest of despair?

Knowest thou not that day follows night,
that flood comes after ebb,
that spring and summer succeed winter?

Hope thou then!  Hope thou ever!
     For God fails thee not.

Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this?

Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day,
     and God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments.

No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost;
     he only cares to use it for that reason
          which should make thee willing to receive it,
namely, that it works thy lasting good.

Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the angels,
and behold him who sits at the top of it—thy covenant God.

Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity,    
     forget the trials of time,
          or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them,
               and wrought thy lasting good by them.

Come, sing
     in the midst of tribulation.
Rejoice
     even while passing through the furnace.
Make
     the wilderness to blossom like the rose!
Cause
     the desert to ring with thine exulting joys,

for these light afflictions will soon be over,
     and then “for ever with the Lord,”
          thy bliss shall never wane.


“Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe and thou shalt see,
That Christ is all in all to thee.”
 

I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?  Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
Psalm 42:9