I. "Thou makest darkness." Darkness is a part of Divine order; at least, in the physical universe it is so: and I suppose in this respect, as in all other respects, the material universe represents the spiritual. Universal darkness is a house for light. Darkness is that upon which or through which the light shines. It is an essential part of God's work.
II. "It is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth." (1) Darkness, as well as light, serves its own purposes. Light is good for flowers, but it is not so good for their roots. There would be no flowers long if the roots did not abide in darkness. (2) The beasts of the forest "creep" forth. For about the creatures whose element is darkness there is always something subtle and stealthy, as though they had no absolute authority for their existence. By slinking away before the light, they seem to confess, "We belong only to the strife and twilight of the universe. When the great day comes, we shall be no more."
III. "The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God." The young lions know not God; but God knows them, and understands the roar of their desire. God expects no meeker prayers from His wild beasts.
IV. "The sun ariseth," etc. There are children of the day, and there are children of darkness. While the beasts had their sport man slept. Now the beasts sleep, and man rises and "goeth forth unto his work."
V. Nature is a great darkness, in which the kingdom of God appears not. The true Light is not to be seen in nature's skies. Nature is a huge organisation of night.
VI. The violent eagerness of our sensual instincts and passions may well be called "lions." There is ever something ravenous about the desires of the natural man.
VII. So long as the appetites and passions are permitted to rule, it is night with the human spirit. "The sun ariseth." Christ is man's Sun.
VIII. "Man goeth forth," etc. He is wakened out of sleep; he is risen from the dead. Christ has given him life. Man's work is to work his way back out of fallen life, to work in unity with Christ his Saviour "until evening," that he may then go home to the dear interior life and eternity.
J. Pulsford, Quiet Hours,p. 12.