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by L B Cowman
An Hour In The Garden
"He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and
when evening was come, he was there alone" (Matt. 14:23).
The man Christ Jesus felt the need of perfect solitude -- Himself alone,
entirely by Himself, alone with Himself. We know how much intercourse with men
draws us away from ourselves and exhausts our powers. The man Christ Jesus knew
this, too, and felt the need of being by Himself again, of gathering all His
powers, of realizing fully His high destiny, His human weakness, His entire
dependence on the Father.
How much more does the child of God need this--himself alone with spiritual
realities, himself alone with God the Father. If ever there were one who could
dispense with special seasons for solitude and fellowship, it was our Lord. But
He could not do His work or maintain His fellowship in full power, without His
quiet time.
Would God that every servant of His understood and practiced this blessed art,
and that the Church knew how to train its children into some sense of this high
and holy privilege, that every believer may and must have his time when he is
indeed himself alone with God. Oh, the thought to have God all alone to myself,
and to know that God has me all alone to Himself! --Andrew Murray
Lamertine speaks in one of his books of a secluded walk in his garden where his
mother always spent a certain hour of the day, upon which nobody ever dreamed
for a moment of intruding. It was the holy garden of the Lord to her. Poor souls
that have no such Beulah land! Seek thy private chamber, Jesus says. It is in
the solitude that we catch the mystic notes that issue from the soul of things.
A MEDITATION
My soul, practice being alone with Christ! It is written that when they were
alone He expounded all things to His disciples. Do not wonder at the saying; it
is true to thine experience. If thou wouldst understand thyself send the
multitude away. Let them go out one by one till thou art left alone with Jesus.
. . . Has thou ever pictured thyself the one remaining creature in the earth,
the one remaining creature in all the starry worlds?
In such a universe thine every thought would be "God and I! God and I!" And yet
He is as near to thee as that--as near as if in the boundless spaces there
throbbed no heart but His and thine. Practice that solitude, O my soul! Practice
the expulsion of the crowd! Practice the stillness of thine own heart! Practice
the solemn refrain "God and I! God and I!" Let none interpose between thee and
thy wrestling angel! Thou shalt be both condemned and pardoned when thou shalt
meet Jesus alone! --George Matheson
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