Quiet Time

Throughout the Christmas camp and fundraising, I was so busy and lacked quiet time. . .

Solomon, a man of great wisdom (1 Kings: 12, 2 Chron 1: 12) said that one of the ways to “understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov 2:2) is to “incline thine ear unto wisdom”.

Peter Masters says concerning this “We become casual and poor listeners whenever we try to focus on several things at once. To incline the ear is to give careful and undivided attention to one thing only. . .  In this age many influences pressurise us. ‘Come with us!’ says a godless world, ‘Come and join us.’ A whole flurry of voices clamour for attention, and in the midst of them is the voice of God in the Bible. But how shall we ever hear this clearly, or believe it, while our attention is drawn to other things? We will not grasp its message or its urgency while our minds are infatuated with the things of this life, such as the pursuit of ambitions and possessions, and so on. . . We will never find the Lord if we listen to Him just once a week, and throughout the rest of it we give our attention to the attractions and temptations of a godless life”

David Martyn Lloyd Jones, said to be the greatest preacher of the 2oth century puts it very bluntly and soul-searchingly when he says “We are meant to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. We are meant to be pressing forward towards the mark - forgetting what we’ve got, desiring this. He’s holding it out before us: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.
It’s a terrible thing, but the trouble with us is that our lives are not centred on Him, they’re not dominated by him. We say ‘Ah yes we are working for him’ and then we leave him alone and we go on and on in our little activities. We ask his blessing upon what we are doing, but oh how often do we seek Him himself? God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the presence of the Spirit in our lives – that’s true Christianity.”

The great evangelist, George Whitefield, who was mightily used by God to spark the 18^th century revival took great delight in the law of the Lord, that it should make us ask ourselves “Do I enjoy and seek quiet time with God?” Whitefield after his conversion, in his diary wrote “My mind being now more open and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in one moth than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men.” He says about prayer “How often have I been carried out beyond myself when sweetly meditating in the fields! How assuredly have I felt that Christ dwelt in me and I in Him! And how did I daily walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost and was edified and refused in the multitude of peace!”

If we don’t incline our ear unto wisdom by keeping our quiet time, reading our Bible and praying daily, how can we understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God? Whitefield laid aside all books and left only the Holy Scriptures before himself.

To conclude, be diligent in our quiet time, hoping that someday we can sing honestly with Charles Wesley “Jesus, my all in all Thou art.”

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”(Hebrews 11:6)

But remember “¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

Joash