“I Never Knew He Was So Near”

We heard the other day of a Christian man who was wont to worship with a certain set of Christians who were characterised by noise in their singing, preaching, and prayers. They thought that volume of sound was synonymous with power and unction. In their fervour they used their lungs most vigorously, and our friend—a man of stentorian voice—was not behind the rest in these demonstrations.

Time rolled on, and he left these hearty but noisy Christians and joined himself to a few as characterised by quietness as the others by noise. We do not discuss the why and wherefore of his step, but only state the fact.

When he came among these quiet Christians, it was with no small degree of apprehension they welcomed him to their quiet devotions, and wondered if, when he prayed aloud, they would be able to endure it. To their astonishment he was quite silent, and remained so for a considerable period.

At length the silence was broken. To their surprise they were obliged to put their hands to their ears to catch his whispers. After their prayer-meeting was over they gathered round him, and one of them inquired why he had become so quiet in prayer.

Reader, lay the answer to heart and meditate on the reply. He said, with reverence and earnestness, “I never knew He was so near before.” It is happy when the soul is thus consciously near God—so near that it only seems necessary, with all the confidence and familiarity of a child, to whisper its petitions into the ear of a listening and sympathetic Father.

True, it says in Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Whilst this always in one sense remains true, and certainly becoming reverence is to be strongly inculcated, yet in another sense things are altered today.

For the permanent presence of the Holy Ghost on the earth and His indwelling has bridged for the believer the distance between heaven and earth. So it is not with the sense of God being afar off in heaven that we pray today, but in all the confidence and familiarity of children in the immediate presence of God.

Of course, in public we must take care that our prayers are distinctly audible. Without this our brothers and sisters in Christ cannot say “Amen.” And there are generally deaf Christians present whose infirmities should be remembered, and who cannot hear at all unless we speak out. This is too often forgotten.