September 20

Shut in with God

“Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father” (Matt. 6:6).
“I was left alone, and saw this great vision” (Dan. 10:8).

We need a place for prayer. Oh! you can pray anywhere, on the street, in the store, traveling, measuring dry goods, hands in dishwater—where not. But you are not likely to unless you have been off in some quiet place shut in alone with God. The Master said: “Enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door;” that door is important. It shuts out, and it shuts in. “Pray to thy Father who is in secret.” God is here in this shut-in spot. One must get alone to find out that he never is alone. The more alone we are as far as men are concerned the least alone we are so far as God is concerned.


The quiet place and time are needful to train the ears for keen hearing. A mother will hear the faintest cry of her babe just awaking. It is upstairs perhaps; the tiniest bit of a sound comes; nobody else hears, but quick as a flash the mother’s hands are held quiet, the head alert, then she is off. Her ears are trained beyond anybody’s else—love’s training. We need trained ears. A quiet place shuts out the outer sounds, and gives the inner ear a chance to learn other sounds.
A man was standing in a telephone booth trying to talk, but could not make out the message. He kept saying, “I can’t hear, I can’t hear.” The other man by and by said sharply, “If you’ll shut that door you can hear.” His door was shut and he could hear not only the man’s voice but the street and store noises too. Some folks have gotten their hearing badly confused because their doors have not been shut enough. Man’s voice and God’s voice get mixed in their ears. They cannot tell between them. The bother is partly with the door. If you’ll shut that door you can hear.
—S. D. Gordon.

Lord, I have shut my door!
Come Thou and visit me: I am alone!
Come as when doors were shut Thou cam’st of yore
And visited Thine own.
My Lord, I kneel with reverence, love, and fear,
For Thou art here.
—Mary Ellen Atkinson.

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