"Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro, yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many meetings with our fellow men, yet so few meetings with God?
Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His child hold fellowship together as if they could never part? It is the lack of these solitary hours that not only injures our own growth in grace, but makes us such unprofitable members of the church of Christ, and that renders our lives useless.
In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone with God. It is not in society, even Christian society that the soul grows most rapidly and vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in whole days of company with others.
It is in the 'desert' that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. So with the soul. It is when none but God is near; when His presence alone, like the desert air in which there is mingled no noxious breath of man, surrounds and pervades the soul; it is then that the eye gets the clearest, simplest view of eternal certainties; it is then that the soul gathers in wondrous refreshment and power and energy.
Nearness to God, fellowship with God, waiting upon God, resting in God, have been too little the characteristic either of our private or our ministerial walk. Hence our example has been so powerless, our labors so unsuccessful, our sermons so meager, our whole ministry so fruitless and feeble."
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I read the above in my Celtic Daily Prayer book (Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community). The book is an unusual one and I'm still trying to figure out if I like it or not, but I do like the snippets of stories, songs and quotations. I was surprised when I read the above because all I knew of Horatius Bonar was that he wrote some hymns, but he actually did a little more than just write songs for 'fun'.
The section in my 'devotional' book was taken from a much larger portion of his work entitled, Words to Winners of Souls - though another source calls it Ministerial Confessions http://www.gracegems.org/SERMONS/Ministerial%20Confessions.htm I haven't read the rest of it, but this small portion spoke to me so much about relationship, a real relationship with a real person, not a formula - a step by step procedure, but a relationship (like marriage) that takes time.
The term 'First Love' springs to mind, those first months when all you can think about is your future husband/wife. But when you fast forward 20 years, if you are not careful you can end up like two parallel lines, the relationship keeps going, the contract isn't broken, but the relationship isn't what it was - we've lost our first love.
Yes we do our side of the deal, I wash your clothes, you take the bin out, or in the case of our relationship with God, we can end up just doing what we feel our duties are - I go to church and read my Bible and God died for my sins and will take me to Heaven. But, that's not a relationship - there is so much more to knowing someone and loving someone than doing your duty. Oh, how it must grieve Him when we get busy 'ticking all the right boxes' when all He wants is for us to stop and spend time with Him.
But, like marriage, a relationship with God needs to be nurtured and you can only do that by spending time together and prayer does that - oh how hurried and fickle my conversation with God can be. I hear in Bonar's words the question of whether I've lost my first Love.
Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His child hold fellowship together as if they could never part? It is the lack of these solitary hours that not only injures our own growth in grace, but makes us such unprofitable members of the church of Christ, and that renders our lives useless.
In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone with God. It is not in society, even Christian society that the soul grows most rapidly and vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in whole days of company with others.
It is in the 'desert' that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. So with the soul. It is when none but God is near; when His presence alone, like the desert air in which there is mingled no noxious breath of man, surrounds and pervades the soul; it is then that the eye gets the clearest, simplest view of eternal certainties; it is then that the soul gathers in wondrous refreshment and power and energy.
Nearness to God, fellowship with God, waiting upon God, resting in God, have been too little the characteristic either of our private or our ministerial walk. Hence our example has been so powerless, our labors so unsuccessful, our sermons so meager, our whole ministry so fruitless and feeble."
---------------------------------------------------------------
I read the above in my Celtic Daily Prayer book (Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community). The book is an unusual one and I'm still trying to figure out if I like it or not, but I do like the snippets of stories, songs and quotations. I was surprised when I read the above because all I knew of Horatius Bonar was that he wrote some hymns, but he actually did a little more than just write songs for 'fun'.
The section in my 'devotional' book was taken from a much larger portion of his work entitled, Words to Winners of Souls - though another source calls it Ministerial Confessions http://www.gracegems.org/SERMONS/Ministerial%20Confessions.htm I haven't read the rest of it, but this small portion spoke to me so much about relationship, a real relationship with a real person, not a formula - a step by step procedure, but a relationship (like marriage) that takes time.
The term 'First Love' springs to mind, those first months when all you can think about is your future husband/wife. But when you fast forward 20 years, if you are not careful you can end up like two parallel lines, the relationship keeps going, the contract isn't broken, but the relationship isn't what it was - we've lost our first love.
Yes we do our side of the deal, I wash your clothes, you take the bin out, or in the case of our relationship with God, we can end up just doing what we feel our duties are - I go to church and read my Bible and God died for my sins and will take me to Heaven. But, that's not a relationship - there is so much more to knowing someone and loving someone than doing your duty. Oh, how it must grieve Him when we get busy 'ticking all the right boxes' when all He wants is for us to stop and spend time with Him.
But, like marriage, a relationship with God needs to be nurtured and you can only do that by spending time together and prayer does that - oh how hurried and fickle my conversation with God can be. I hear in Bonar's words the question of whether I've lost my first Love.
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