How to use victory - Chambers, Oswald
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Mark 1:35.
This incident in the life of our lord occurred after what one would call a most successful day. He had endured the fierce onslaught in the wilderness, driven there for the devil to do his worst, and had come off more than conqueror, for we read that angels came and ministered unto him. If after a season of temptation a saint retains the power that draws the purest spirits to him, he may feel assured that the temptation has been gone through with successfully. Our lord had called the men who were to be his disciples, and they had promptly left all and followed him; he had had a triumphant time in capernaum, casting out demons and setting men and women free. The fame and success of this mysterious being grew, and we read that all the city was gathered together at the door. It was after this time of eminent success in relieving men and blessing them that Jesus departed into a solitary place and spent the night in prayer. Dr. George Adam smith, 18 in a sermon on prayer, uses the following illustration from his own experience in Switzerland. He was an ardent mountain climber, and (i quote from memory) as he neared the top of a certain mountain his guide stepped back in order to let him have the privilege of being first on the top. He said the exhilaration of the experience made him leap and jump for joy, but instantly the guide called out, down on your knees! It isn’t safe standing up there. Dr. Smith used the illustration in the way i want to use it. After our days of successful service are we spending too much time in exuberant joy and shouting, forgetting that the only safe place is on our knees?
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. I wonder what that night and early dawn hid?
Our lord went through his days with such easy power; what did he do in those solitary moments alone with god? Did he go back, in mind at least, to the glory which he had with the father before the world was? Did he recline on the bosom of the father and hear unspeakable words not lawful to utter? Such thoughts as these are not presumptuous but the meditation of the heart that knows what communion with god means.
If that communion means so much to a human heart that has been saved and sanctified through the atonement, what must it have meant to the son of god? What it was our lord experienced is hidden from us, yet we too in our measure have had the unspeakable experience, if rare, when the dark night of nature gives place to the dawn, when the huge and thoughtful silence of the night makes everything that is petty and trifling fall away, and lifts us into the larger isolation, which is no isolation but the realisation of the presence of god. Where do we place the night of prayer and the dawn of intercession in our souls calendar? Do we place it after a day of marvellous success in work for god? If we do not, our souls are in peril. Have we ever sufficiently realised our responsibility along the line of intercession? The apostle Paul emphasises the tremendous importance of prayer praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and sup- plication for all saints; and for me. . . . When our souls have been lifted into the presence of god and we have grasped some truth with new illumination, how much time have we spent in prayer for those servants and handmaids whom god has used to bless us? We allow ourselves to imagine that it would be presumptuous on our part to pray for the pauls; but this is a snare of Satan.
Notice this phrase, he departed into a solitary place; and notice also our lords instructions regarding private prayer but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret. Any soul who has not that solitary place alone with god is in supreme peril spiritually. Let us ask ourselves if we have allowed the solitary places to be broken down or built over with altars that look beautiful, and people passing by say how religious that man or woman must be. Such an altar, if there is no other in the solitary place, is an insult to the deep work of god in our souls. God grant we may learn more and more of the profound joy of getting alone with god in the dark of the night and toward the early dawn.