To be near unto God - pagina 442

mysticism. At first we face the distance. First the soul must lift itself to higher things. Not here below but above is the altar of the prayers of the saints, which burns with incense before his No more here below, but in heaven our face. Savior is seated at the right hand of God, and prays for us, and by his intercession supports our prayer. First ''Lift up your hearts," the sursum cor da, and then as we pray God in his majesty graciously condescends to us. And this true impulse of prayer expresses itself in this, that prayer can sometimes become a calling, a crying, a roaring, as the Psalmist says; and only when we observe that God inclines his ear to us, and regards us, and hearkens to our prayer, does the praying soul find rest. When in prayer we feel that the listening ear of God inclines itself to us, the distance is bridged, and we know that God has come near to us, and that we are near

unto God.

And in

so, at length,

what

turning

prayer reaches

its

highest bliss

in the third place we called the personal Thousands of God to him who prays.

call on God every morning and every evening for help and for salvation. True, the number of those who no longer pray is on the

upon thousands

increase. times of

But

still

who in for deliv-

the numbers of those

need and

stress cry after erance are incalculably great. And

God now

the point those thousands and tens of to be noticed, God also looks on us, and that he knows that we, too, call upon him. Among all these voices that cross each other and mingle together to have our voice also penetrate to the Almighty. If we may express it is,

among thousands who are

to

knc^

that

438

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen