Waking up to the welcoming warmth of the morning sun when winter backpacking is a wonderful experience. I remember one occasion when I was trekking through the Lusk Creek Wilderness of southern Illinois, and temperatures tumbled to the mid-20s. And I shivered without sleep despite my best efforts to keep warm. I was bundled in a sleeping bag, blanketed with thermal clothes, and burning beside me was a small fire, but nothing could keep me warm. The only thought that got me through the chilly night was, “Just a few hours longer. I only have to wait for the sunrise, and the cold will disappear. Just hang on until the morning comes.”

Likewise, the warming truth that encourages the Lord’s saints to bear the bitter cold of trials and tribulations is this: we only have to suffer “until the morning comes.” The sun of God’s working-all-things-for-good providence will eventually rise and warm the weary soul (Rom. 8:28). Trials will not go on forever, and His goodness will finally rise upon us to melt away the icy coldness of troubles. And sometimes, the blanket of good days and warm encouragement from friends are not enough to keep us from shivering during frigid tribulations. But we do not have to give up—we need only to remind ourselves, “Just hang on until the morning comes.” 

More importantly, one day the Son will appear and the warmth of His welcoming presence will melt away sin, sorrow, sickness, and suffering. God assured us in Malachi: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall” (Mal. 4:2, KJV). Furthermore, on that bright and cloudless morning we shall be taken to glory, where His presence replaces the heat of the sun: “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever (Rev. 22:3-5).

This soul-warming truth is eloquently expressed in When the Morning Comes, a hymn written by Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933):

“Trials dark on ev’ry hand,

and we cannot understand

All the ways that God would lead us

to that blessed Promised Land;

But He’ll guide us with His eye,

and we’ll follow till we die;

We will understand it better by and by.

By and by, when the morning comes,

When the saints of God are gathered home,

We will tell the story how we’ve overcome;

We will understand it better by and by.”

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky. 

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word: