Scripture: "Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."—MATT. vi. 6.
Christ longed greatly that His disciples should know God as their Father, and that they should have secret fellowship with Him. In His own life He found it not only indispensable, but the highest happiness to meet the Father in secret.
And He would have us realize that it is impossible to be true, wholehearted disciples without daily intercourse with the Father in heaven, who waits for us in secret.
God is a God who hides Himself from the world, and all that is of the world. God would draw us away from the world and from ourselves. He offers us instead, the blessedness of close, intimate communion with Himself. Oh that God's children would understand this!
Believers in the Old Testament enjoyed this experience, "Thou art my hiding-place." "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him."
How much more ought Christians in the New Covenant to value this secret intercourse with God. We read: "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." If we really believe this, we shall have the joyful assurance that our life, hid with Christ in God in such Divine keeping, is safe and beyond the reach of every foe. We should day by day confidently seek the renewal of our spiritual life in prayer to our Father who is in secret.
Because we are dead with Christ, one plant with Him in the likeness of His death, and of His resurrection too, we know that, as the roots of a tree are hidden under the earth, so the roots of our daily life are hidden deep in God.
O soul, take time to realize:
"Thou shalt hide me in the secret of Thy presence" (Ps. xxxi. 20).
Our first thought in prayer should be: I must know that I am alone with God, and that God is with me.
"In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me" (Ps. xxvii. 5).
