Prayer in the darkness.
What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light" (Matt. 10:27).
Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark, that He may tell us things. Into the dark of the shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, where some infirmity closes us in from the light and stir of life; into the dark of some crushing sorrow and disappointment.
Then He tells us His secrets, great and wonderful, eternal and infinite; He causes the eye which has become dazzled by the glare of earth to behold the heavenly constellations; and the car to detect the undertones of His voice, which is often drowned amid the tumult of earth's strident cries.
But such revelations always imply a corresponding responsibility — 'that speak ye in the light–that proclaim upon the housetops.' We are not meant to always linger in the dark, or stay in the closet; presently we shall be summoned to take our place in the rush and storm of life; and when that moment comes, we are to speak and proclaim what we have learned.
This gives a new meaning to suffering, the saddest element in which is often its apparent aimlessness. "How useless I am!" "What am I doing for the betterment of men?" "Wherefore this waste of the precious spikenard of my soul?"
Such are the desperate laments of the sufferer. But God has a purpose in it all. He has withdrawn His child to the higher altitudes of fellowship, that he may hear God speaking face to face, and bear the message to his fellows at the mountain foot.
Were the forty days wasted that Moses spent on the Mount, or the period spent at Horeb by Elijah, or the years spent in Arabia by Paul?
There is no short cut to the life of faith, which is the all-vital condition of a holy and victorious life. We must have periods of lonely meditation and fellowship with God. That our souls should have their mountains of fellowship, their valley of quiet rest beneath the shadow of a great rock, their nights beneath the stars, when darkness has veiled the material and silenced the stir of human life, and has opened the view of the infinite and eternal, is as indispensable as that our bodies should have food.
Thus alone can the sense of God's presence become the fixed possession of the soul, enabling it to say repeatedly, with the Psalmist, "Thou art near, 0 God." –F. B. Meyer
"Some hearts, like evening primroses, open more beautifully in the shadows of life."
~ Streams in the Desert, April 11 — 1925
Prayer as a Symbol in the Darkness
What a very strange thing, is it not, for a man to pray? It is the symbol at once of his littleness and of his greatness. Here the sense of imperfection, controlled and silenced in the narrower reaches of his being, becomes audible. Now he must utter himself. The sense of need is so real, and the sense of Environment, that he calls out to it, addressing it articulately and imploring it to satisfy his need. Surely there is nothing more touching in Nature than this! Man could never so expose himself, so break through all constraint, except from a dire necessity. — Natural Law: Environment, Henry Drummond
Prayerful Ingratitude
How empty are our conceptions of Deity. We admit theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind. We plead for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves for the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are insincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put a finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives. What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the commandments of our Master and follow His example, is our proper dept to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that He has done. Outward worship is not of itself suffecent to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
~ Science and Health with Key to Scriptures byMary Baker Eddy, "Prayer",
Yesterday
When I recall the yesterdays
The rubble, storm and strife;
I thank my precious Lord again
For giving me new life.
There was a time of darkness and
I'd surely lost my way.
My life was empty, meaningless;
I would not even pray.
Rejection heightened feelings of
My lack of self-esteem;
Failure ate my peace of mind,
Destroyed my every dream.
The mornings that I wakened to
Held nothing more than dread;
My hope for happiness dissolved,
I wished that I were dead.
But then, one single word "forgive"
Was spoken from His throne,
And in my spirit beamed a light…
He beckoned, "Child, come home."
I died to self that He might live
Within the heart of me:
I chose the certain route to peace.
My Shepherd, now is He.
I'm walking is His victory,
A child of Christ, my King.
I him I find fullfillment and
To Him my praise I sing!
~ Anna Lee Edwards McAlpin, 1985
A prayer of gratitude.