To be near unto God - pagina 416

one who prays seeks strength in retirement. This expressed in what Jesus told his disciples: ''But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and shut the door behind thee"(Matth. 6:6). And he set us the example, as often as he withdrew himis

prayer into the solitude of the wilderness, or into the loneliness of the mountains. Even in Gethsemane the Lord seeks solitude for his last agonized prayer, and leaves his disciples at a distance, that he might pray alone. Insofar as this expresses a desire for rest and quiet in prayer, it agrees with what we seek in sleep. But with this the likeness ends. With prayer we withdraw from the world that in our fellowship with Almighty God we maj^ be more In fully awake to the higher order of things. sleep, on the other hand, we retire from the world, in order to lose ourselves in unconsciousness and in forgetfulness of self. At least, such it is, when self for

everything is normal. In Paradise it would always have been so. But in stern reality prayer and sleep are continually confused in a two-fold They are confused in such a way that way. prayer is overtaken by what belongs to sleep, and lie down to sleep the soul passes into the attitude of prayer. Not as though in prayer many actually fall asleep. That this happens sometimes when prayer is too long, is granted. This, But what frehowever, is always exceptional. quently happens is, that he who with others prays with him who leads in prayer, either allows his mind to be diverted or unconsciously lets it And that the night, which was intended for rest. sleep, frequently ends in prayer, see it in the case of Asaph, as in Psalm 77 R. V. 2, 5, he complains:

when we

412

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