It Is Toward Evening by Vance Havner

“It is toward evening, and the day is far spent” (Luke 24:29). So said the Emmaus disciples to the risen Lord. We read that “Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide” (Genesis 24:63). Isaac would have a rough time today—he wouldn’t be able to get to the fields because of the automobiles and superhighways. If he did get there, he couldn’t meditate because modern Isaacs have lost the art. One thing is certain: “It is toward evening.” For some of us it has been a long time since life’s morning. It is toward evening as this poor delirious world hurtles on toward judgment at the end of the age. It has been a long time since I timidly sent my first piece to a county newspaper—over half a century ago. Although we have come from horse-and-buggy days to the jet age, hearts don’t change much; and these meditations, as we stroll toward sunset, are aimed at the heart. Pascal said, “The heart has its reasons which reason does not know,” but it is to be hoped that those who read this little book will not have been so misled by the reasoning of their heads that they cannot respond to the reasoning of their hearts.

Vance Havner (1901-1986) was a unique servant of God whose spoken ministry spanned over seventy years and whose written ministry extended to almost forty books. Michael Catt, Pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, says of him: "There was no one like Vance Havner. His preaching style was unique, powerful, and pointed. He was a master at turning a phrase, using humor to set up a point, and then driving the point home like a sharp, two-edged sword. Every Christian should read Vance Havner… If you love A. W. Tozer, you'll love Vance Havner. He was one of God's gifts to the church in the 20th century. His ministry and his preaching needs to be heard in the 21st century."