Solitude, Not Loneliness
Go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. — Ezek. iii. 22.
Why not talk with Mm in the city? Is the city without divine messages? Are the countless throngs upon the city streets very far from God? Not necessarily. God speaks as surely in the city as in the desert. By unexpected events by labour and strife by the various fortunes of vice and the amazing struggles of virtue God speaks to men with distinctness and solemnity. The point is that busy men may hear God in “solitude and solitary men may hear Him in the city. Change of mere position may have moral advantages. In the great temple of the sea we may offer peculiar worship; in the quiet sanctuary of the wilderness we may hear the softest tones of heaven. This should be insisted upon so as to destroy the fallacy that in the absence of any one
IN set of outward circumstances worsMp is impossible. In the text there are three points of deep interest: (I.) The speciality of God’s appointments. He appoints places, times, methods. He appoints, in this case, the plain. “Where two or three are gathered together, etc.; “Wheresoever my name is recorded,” etc. Where the appointment is special, the obedience should be instantaneous, cordial, punctual. (II.) The joersonality of Gods communication: “I will talk with thee.” We should know more of God if we held closer intercourse with Him. We may go to God directly. Every devout meditation brings us into the Divine presence. Exjoect this; believe it; realize it. In the sanctuary we are not hearing the voice of man, but of God. In nature we hear the Divine voice. God talks with man in the garden in the cool of the day. (III.) The familiarity of Gods condescension: I will talJc with thee.” It is a friend’s appointment. It is not, “I will lighten and thunder,” or I will overpower thee with my strength/ but, ‘’ I will talk with thee,” as a father might talk to his only son. Though the prophet was at first thrown down, yet the Spirit entered into him, and set him upon his feet.
Application: — (1) God has ever something to say to man. Must have — (a) as 2^, Ruler; (b) as a Father. His word is ever new. (2) In seeking solitude, man should seeJc God. Solitude without God leads to madness.
Solitude with Grod leads to strength and peace. Tin devout solitude is the wilderness where the devil wins his battles. (3) Man himself should often propose to commune with God. In this case God proposed: in other cases man may “seek the Lord.” Communion with God shows (a) the capacity of our spiritual nature; {b) the infinite superiority of the spiritual as compared with the material. When Moses talked with God his face shone; when we commune with Him, our life will be full of brightness. Divine fellowship may be kept silent, but it cannot be kept secret, Jesus Christ Himself went away from men to commune with God. If the Master required solitude can the servant safely do without it?
“Not that I mean t’ approve, or would enforce.
A superstitious and monastic course;
But leisure, silence, and a mind released
From anxious thoughts how wealth may be increased;
How to secure in some propitious hour
The point of interest, or the post of power.
A soul serene, and equally retired
From objects too much dreaded or desired;
Safe from the clamours of perverse dispute,
At least are friendly to the great pursuit.”
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