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Help In Daily Living
executing justice on the idolaters, he was hidden in the cleft of the rock,
and the Lord said, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,”
“merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness
and truth; ... and that will by no means clear the guilty.”
Exodus 33:19
;
Exodus 34:6, 7
, A.R.V. Before he laid down, with his life, his burden
for Israel, God called him to the top of Pisgah and spread out before
him the glory of the Promised Land.
Before the disciples went forth on their mission, they were called
up into the mount with Jesus. Before the power and glory of Pentecost,
came the night of communion with the Saviour, the meeting on the
mountain in Galilee, the parting scene upon Olivet, with the angel’s
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promise, and the days of prayer and communion in the upper chamber.
Jesus, when preparing for some great trial or some important work,
would resort to the solitude of the mountains and spend the night in
prayer to His Father. A night of prayer preceded the ordination of the
apostles and the Sermon on the Mount, the transfiguration, the agony
of the judgment hall and the cross, and the resurrection glory.
Communion With God in Prayer
We, too, must have times set apart for meditation and prayer and for
receiving spiritual refreshing. We do not value the power and efficacy
of prayer as we should. Prayer and faith will do what no power on
earth can accomplish. We are seldom, in all respects, placed in the
same position twice. We continually have new scenes and new trials
to pass through, where past experience cannot be a sufficient guide.
We must have the continual light that comes from God.
Christ is ever sending messages to those who listen for His voice.
On the night of the agony in Gethsemane, the sleeping disciples heard
not the voice of Jesus. They had a dim sense of the angels’ presence,
but lost the power and glory of the scene. Because of their drowsi-
ness and stupor they failed of receiving the evidence that would have
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strengthened their souls for the terrible scenes before them. Thus today
the very men who most need divine instruction often fail of receiving
it, because they do not place themselves in communion with heaven.
The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a
necessity. Dangers beset every path. Those who are seeking to rescue
others from vice and ruin are especially exposed to temptation. In