But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6
You could be forgiven for forgetting that Easter is just around the corner and we are still in the period of Lent. Lent is traditionally a period of time when Christians retreat a little from the pressures of the world to focus their attention more closely on Jesus and the sacrifice he made.
It is a time when we should be stiller than normal, spending time either in solitude or at least less time being rushed off our feet by the chaos of the whirlwind world, meditating on God’s Word and Way. It is interesting that a small virus that we cannot even see has reshaped the planet with less rushing, less noise and more solitude.
Jesus, in this passage, which is part of His sermon on the Mount, states that we need to actually take time alone or in the quiet to be able to really connect with God. The ancient Desert Fathers were very much focussed on this and would spend weeks, months or in some cases years in the desert alone speak with and listen to God.
We have now a God given opportunity to pause and listen. C.S Lewis in his book The Problem with Pain states
We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Godspeed
Steve Neuhaus
Eagles Rest Ministries