No Time⤒🔗

Everything goes faster today and still not fast enough. Information whizzes through this world in a matter of seconds. We definitely can call this century the Age of Hurry. To cater to this lack(!) of time, we have created Fast Food Restaurants, Instant Pictures, and Quick Print. This spirit of hurry has not passed our doors either. Young people, I wonder how often you skip your personal devo­tions because you have so much homework or many other activities. Fathers, how often do you let your daily family worship fall by the wayside (or do it in a hurry) because you are so busy? Mothers, how often do you let go the precious moments and golden opportunities to teach your little ones the great truths simply because you "have to run"? But, to press yet closer to home, is there yet personal quiet time with God? Rev. Bakker wrote, "Do you have a prayer closet? If the floors of your home could speak, would they witness to bended knees? Do you dare call the walls of your home to witness to your prayer life? If the doors could speak, would they be able to testify that you have shut them to go into your prayer room?"

Solitude←⤒🔗

Perhaps you wonder what is meant by quiet time. Rev. Brakel called it solitude (see The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 4, Chapter 77). He defines it as the time in which we separate from all men for a period of time in order to be enabled to concentrate more earnestly and freely as one engages himself with God in quietness. The two key concepts are separation and concen­tration. In order for one to concentrate upon God, it is so necessary and beneficial to be alone, separated from all noise and distraction. There are many examples in the Scripture of persons in solitude. Isaac went out to meditate (margin: pray) in the field at eventide (Genesis 24:63); Daniel and David sought solitude three times a day (Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:17); Paul spent three years in the desert after his conversion (Galatians 1:17-18); and John the Baptist spent much time alone in the desert (Luke 2:80). Jesus was often alone with His Father before or after His work during the day. Lastly, how profitable it was when the noise of his parties had finally subsided and the prodigal son found himself alone. There for the first time he came face to face with the results of his dreadful choice and the realization of the blessedness of his father's house.

Commanded←⤒🔗

The Lord Jesus commanded His hearers to seek out the closet, to shut the door, and there to pray in quiet­ness (Matthew 6:6). Normally there were no separate rooms in the Jewish house of the common man. The lower floor of the house was for the animals, and the upper floor, reached by a few steps, was for the people. However, each house had a closet which was usually dug into the floor and had a door. It was used as their refrigerator and storage room. The command to enter into this closet was not only to counteract the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisees, who liked to pray in public to show how righteous they were, but was also very practical, for it removed the many distractions of the home when a soul sought to come face to face with his God.

Profitable←⤒🔗

Solomon commended the man who, through desire, having separated himself seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom (Proverbs 18:1). In the quietness of private retirement, the Holy Spirit works the most and the deepest. Those blessed with large anointings of the Holy Spirit have always been men who spent much time in private retirement. The busy Reformer, Luther, spent three of his best hours every day in solitude with God in prayer and meditation. It is in the quietness that the still, small voice of God is most often heard. The spirit of prayer does not flourish in the atmosphere of hurry. Hurry kills not only bodies, but also souls. Moreover, we are at the door of eternity. Hence we have other work to do rather than to trifle away our time. John Mason wrote, "Those hours which you spend in the secret room are the golden spots of all your time and will have the sweetest influence upon your last hour."

Don't delay←⤒🔗

Perhaps you agree with most of what I wrote, but agreement is not enough. Hell is getting fuller with those who agreed, but did not repent. They nodded, "Yes," upon the sermon, but hurried on – to school, to work, to the laundry, to their hobby until it was too late.

This quiet time should begin the day. An old proverb says, "A daybreak blessing is a daylong blessing." Let not anything push aside this seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When Luther had an extra heavy schedule and a long day ahead, he got up an hour earlier (!) because there was more to pray for. Oh, friends, we have so many seemingly good excuses to skimp on quiet time, but how such excuses will be changed into accusers when we find ourselves either too old, too tired, too sick, or too late to seek the Lord.

The roaring devil←⤒🔗

We can lock out (to a certain extent) noises and distractions, but we can't lock the door against Satan and our own wicked hearts. Especially when we retire into our quiet time, Satan will go around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour every moment of your solitude. He will remind you of all the things you yet have to do. He will whisper in your ear that it isn't right to spend this time "doing nothing" when you have so much homework to do. He will seek to stir up evil thoughts and desires. His quiver seems endlessly full. What doesn't work today, he will try successfully tomorrow. Therefore we must always begin our separation time with prayer. First, pray for the right desires, as David did, "My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken Thou me according to Thy Word" (Psalm 119:25). Luther also knew his times of listlessness, barrenness, coldness, and deadness. He wrote in a letter to a barber, regarding his own quiet time, "I cannot pray as I ought, yet I will try to pray as I ought." He added this prayer, "Dear Lord, oh that I was as diligent in praying or upright in sighing as Thou art in exhorting, alluring, commanding, promising, and inviting us to prayer. Ah, we are lazy and ungrateful. Forgive us that, dear Lord, and strengthen us in faith."

Secondly, pray for opened eyes, as David did, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Psalm 119:18). We have never understood the portion we have read until we have come face to face with the most wondrous thing of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ. How we need the Spirit to open our eyes to see the Pearl hidden in those sacred pages.

Thirdly, pray for concentration. David also struggled with that, as is evident from his petition, "Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness" (Psalm 119:36). Oh, how comforting to look into the heart of this saint of God and to see how also his heart was so attached and inclined to things other than God and His Word.

Helps to concentrate in prayer←⤒🔗

To pray aloud was always the custom of Luther, and also of David (Psalm 55:17). That wasn't because they wanted to be heard, but because they didn't want to hear the distractions within and without. Hearing our own voice helps us to concentrate tremendously, even if it is only a whispering.

While traveling for many hours in an airplane, I always found it very difficult to concentrate while pray­ing. The one was telling about his cruise and the other about how good the food is in a certain restaurant. It was in those circumstances I learned the value of writing my prayer. At first I felt very uncomfortable with this practice, until one day I was struck by the fact that the Bible is full of written prayers, especially the book of Psalms. Whenever you find your mind so fleeting that you don't even know what you prayed when you say "Amen," try putting your prayer thoughts on paper.

Journals←⤒🔗

Many of our forefathers kept journals. Some have been published after their death, for example, those of Thomas Boston, Robert M'Cheyne, and Andrew Bonar. The reason they kept these journals was not because they intended to publish them, but to help them in their quiet time. Among other things, they meditated about what they had read by writing in their journals. They expressed in writing how they felt and with what they struggled. Often you will find prayers in their journal entries which arose while they wrote. This practice is biblical, for also David often spoke to himself and wrote it down. Study for yourself Psalms 42 and 77. It is sometimes amazing what answer comes upon paper when you ask yourself a question regarding that which you read or thought and seek to answer it while writing.

Use all the means of grace←⤒🔗

In our quiet time we usually read and pray. How about singing? Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). Luther stated that singing chases the devil away. That is precisely the effect the playing (and perhaps the singing) of David had on the evil spirit in King Saul.

Often we read about meditation, a practice well-nigh lost in our age of hurry. What is meditation? It is "spiritually chewing" the Word of God. Chewing is to eating what meditation is to reading. How is a text of the Bible to be "chewed"? It is by meditating over what you read. Meditation is not just "sitting and staring," but meditation is asking questions about that which you have read. It is the searching of God's message in what you read. How often don't we read a chapter without knowing what message God has for us in that chapter.

Another means of grace which has greatly, if not completely, fallen into disuse is fasting. The Scriptures abound with references to the practice of fasting. It squarely condemns fasting to merit thereby (Isaiah 58), but often commends the practice of it by mentioning it in the lives of various blessed persons and during critical events in the Bible. In Luke 2 we read of Anna, a prophetess, who "departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." Please "chew" this portion for a moment with me. Notice that the Spirit mentions her fastings first, and her prayers second. What does the Holy Spirit have to say here? Why is it in this order? Notice also that she used these means night and day, which simply means continually. It was as common in her life as prayer must have been. (For more extensive explanations on fasting, meditation, and singing, see Brakel's book mentioned earlier: chapters 75, 78, and 79, respectively.)

Lastly, another means of grace is self-examination. Luther was in the practice of meditating over each of the Ten Commandments. Oh, what a humbling self-examination if, on our knees before the Lord, we carefully meditate about each commandment, using the Heidelberg Catechism as our guide and the Lord Jesus as our example. Regarding self-examination, Matthew Henry wrote, "Do it often and continually. Ask the Spirit to guide you and make you honest before Him. Examine your motives, feelings, desires, appetite, and thoughts. Review your actions. Look at how you spent your day and whether you were a good stew­ard of all your talents, including your time."

Variety in reading←⤒🔗

Let Watson's guideline be ours when it comes to reading. "Read the one Book many times and many books one time." Seek to read, next to your solid Bible, other good books. Don't limit yourself to one author or one particular group of authors. Some read only Baptist authors, or only Puritans, or only "old" forefathers, or only more recent forefathers, etc. However, we should seek to read a variety of materials from a variety of periods of church history. In writing the Bible, God used many different authors spanning many different periods of time, yet all were inspired by the Spirit. So the Spirit also uses all the uninspired authors throughout all the ages with their varied emphases. Philpot likens God's servants to planets. Each has his own established orbit, either close or far away from the spiritual Sun of Righteousness. The one who is closer receives much more (spiritual) light than the one farther away. Yet each has his function and place in God's spiritual universe. Let us seek to learn from all and to idolize none.

Decree and means←⤒🔗

"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1). One plows, the other sows, but God alone must give the increase. Yet let us not presume to tempt God by separating what God in His good pleasure has most intimately joined together. God decreed to reach His end through the use of the means of grace. We have no difficulty applying this truth to our natural lives, but we fail miserably when it comes to our spiritual lives. Our fathers concluded the marvelous third and fourth heads of the Canons of Dordt (in which they spoke about the regeneration of a dead sinner) with these words, "As the almighty operation of God, whereby He prolongs (produces) and supports this our natural life, does not exclude, but requires the use of means, by which God of His infinite mercy and goodness hath chosen to exert His influence, so also the beforementioned supernatural operation of God, by which we are regenerated, in no wise excludes, or subverts the use of the gospel, which the most wise God has ordained to be the seed of regeneration, and food of the soul."