To be near unto God - pagina 110

its source. 5i)reads itself over an everwidening surface across the connriy below, and at once every object in the track of that light comes out in clear sight. Nothing remains hidden. And so the heart- and soul-searching light from the Allseeing Eye above shines forth into the deepest

point as

folds of the conscience.

But the Psalmist does not mean this seeking and searching when he prays. "Seek, Lord, thy Ser^'-ant." The figure which the Scripture here uses is that of the shepherd, wandering among the hills and seeking the lamb that strayed from the flock and is lost. Thus the Psalmist himself explains it (119:176): "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments." And this figure from the country-life stands much higher than that which is bon-owed from the searchlight. Here love is the appreciation of having again what was lost, the impotence to let go what belongs to the flock, and the motive of the search, or rather the stimulating, impelling passion of the heart. And here is reciprocity. The lost sheep bleats helplessly for the shepherd, and the shepherd scans the mountain path to find it. The lost sheep wants to be found and the shepherd wants to find it. Its bleating is a call shepherd," "Seek me, and by bleating it co-operates in the finding. Such is the Psalmist's cry: "Seek thy Servant;" a prayer that he might be found, which is at the same time an utterance of the soul that makes the finding possible. No child of the world prays this prayer, neither the man who, far distant from God. is engrossed in the pursuit of wealth, nor he who worships him:

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