What Cannot Be Uttered

అటువలె ఆత్మయు మన బలహీనతను చూచి సహాయము చేయుచున్నాడు. ఏలయనగా మనము యుక్తముగా ఏలాగు ప్రార్థన చేయవలెనో మనకు తెలియదు గాని, ఉచ్చరింప శక్యము కాని మూలుగులతో ఆ ఆత్మ తానే మన పక్షముగా విజ్ఞాపనము చేయుచున్నాడు. మరియు హృదయములను పరిశోధించువాడు ఆత్మయొక్క మనస్సు ఏదో యెరుగును; ఏలయనగా ఆయన దేవుని చిత్త ప్రకారము పరిశుద్ధుల కొరకు విజ్ఞాపనము చేయుచున్నాడు (రోమా 8:26, 27).

ప్రార్థనలోని అతి నిగూఢమైన రహస్యమిది. మానవ భాషలో చెప్పలేని దైవ సంబంధమైన ఏర్పాటు. మన వేదాంత విద్య దీనిని వివరించ లేదు. అయితే ఈ విషయం అర్థం కాకపోయినా అతి సామాన్యమైన విశ్వాసికి కూడా ఈ విషయం అనుభవమే.

మనకు అర్థం కాని భారాలెన్నో మన హృదయంపై మోస్తూ ఉన్నాం. మన మనస్సు ఎన్నెన్నో అస్పష్టమైన నివేదనలను దేవుని యెదుట ఉంచాలని ఉవ్విళ్ళూరుతున్నది. అయితే ఇవన్నీ పరమ సింహాసనం నుండి వచ్చిన ప్రతిధ్వనులే. దేవుని హృదయంలోనుండి వెలువడిన గుసగుసలే. సాధారణంగా మన హృదయంలో పాట కంటే మూలుగే ఎక్కువ ధ్వనిస్తూ ఉంటుంది. అయితే ఈ భారం ధన్యకరమైనది. ఈ భారం క్రింద ఆనందగానాలు, భాషకందని ఉత్సాహగానాలు ఉన్నాయి. ఇది ఉచ్ఛరింపశక్యం గాని మూలుగు. దీనిని మనకై మనం పలకలేం. కొన్నిసార్లు మన అంతరంగంలో దేవుడే ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాడన్న ఒక భావం తప్ప మరేదీ అనుభవంలోకి రాదు. ఆయనకే అర్థమయ్యే ఒక అవసరం కోసం ఆయన మనలో ఉండి విజ్ఞాపన చేస్తున్నాడు.

ఇందువల్ల మన హృదయ సంపూర్ణతను, మన ఆత్మ భారాన్నీ, మనలను వేధించే వేదననూ ఆయన సన్నిధిలో ఒలకబొయ్యాలి. ఆయన వింటున్నాడు, అర్థం చేసుకుంటున్నాడు. స్వీకరిస్తున్నాడు.

మన ప్రార్థనలో ఏదైనా సరికానిది గాని, అడగకూడనిది గాని ఉంటే దాన్ని వేరుచేసి మిగిలినదాన్ని ప్రధానయాజకుని హోమంతో పాటు మహోన్నతుని సింహాసనం చెంతకు పంపిస్తున్నాడు. మన ప్రార్థన ఆయన నామం పేరిట అంగీకరించబడుతుంది.

ఊహలకందని ఒక తియ్యని సహవాసమేదో ఎప్పుడూ దేవుణ్ణి మన హృదయంతో ఐక్యం చేస్తూనే ఉంటుంది. తల్లి ప్రక్కన ఒక చిన్న పిల్లవాడు ఉన్నాడనుకోండి. తల్లిగాని, పిల్లవాడు గాని మాట్లాడుకోక పోయినా వాళ్ళ మధ్య ఒక బంధం ఉంటుంది. పిల్లవాడు తన ఆటలో తానుంటాడు. తల్లి తన పని తాను చేసుకుంటూ పోతుంది. అయితే ఇద్దరి మధ్య సహవాసం తెగిపోదు. తన తల్లి తనతో ఉన్నదని పిల్లవాడికి తెలుసు. పిల్లవాడు క్షేమంగా ఉన్నాడని తల్లికి తెలుసు. అలాగే విశ్వాసి, దేవుడు గంటల తరబడి తమ మౌన సహవాసంలో ఉంటారు. విశ్వాసి తన పనుల్లో నిమగ్నమై ఉంటాడు. అయినప్పటికీ తాను చేస్తున్న ప్రతి చిన్న పనిలోనూ దేవుని హస్తం తోడుగా ఉన్నదన్న ఆత్మ జ్ఞానం అతనికి ఉంటుంది. దేవుని సమ్మతి, ఆయన ఆశీర్వాదం తనతో ఉన్నాయని అతనికి తెలుసు.

అయితే చెప్పశక్యం కాని భారాలు, బాధలు వచ్చిపడినప్పుడు, అర్థం చేసుకోలేని సమస్యలు ఆవహించినప్పుడు నేరుగా దేవుని ఒడిలో వాలిపోగలగడం, మన దుఃఖాన్ని ఆయన యెదుట వెళ్ళబుచ్చడం ఎంత ధన్యకరం!

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Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Rom -  8:26-27)

This is the deep mystery of prayer. This is the delicate divine mechanism which words cannot interpret, and which theology cannot explain, but which the humblest believer knows even when he does not understand.

Oh, the burdens that we love to bear and cannot understand! Oh, the inarticulate out-reaching's of our hearts for things we cannot comprehend! And yet we know they are an echo from the throne and a whisper from the heart of God. It is often a groan rather than a song, a burden rather than a buoyant wing. But it is a blessed burden, and it is a groan whose undertone is praise and unutterable joy. It is “a groaning which cannot be uttered.” We could not ourselves express it always, and sometimes we do not understand any more than that God is praying in us, for something that needs His touch and that He understands.

And so we can just pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is imperfect, ignorant and wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great High Priest, before the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted and answered in His name. —A. B. Simpson

It is not necessary to be always speaking to God or always hearing from God, to have communion with Him; there is an inarticulate fellowship more sweet than words. The little child can sit all day long beside its busy mother and, although few words are spoken on either side, and both are busy, the one at his absorbing play, the other at her engrossing work, yet both are in perfect fellowship. He knows that she is there, and she knows that he is all right. So the saint and the Savior can go on for hours in the silent fellowship of love, and he be busy about the most common things, and yet conscious that every little thing he does is touched with the complexion of His presence, and the sense of His approval and blessing.

And then, when pressed with burdens and troubles too complicated to put into words and too mysterious to tell or understand, how sweet it is to fall back into His blessed arms, and just sob out the sorrow that we cannot speak!

Run With Patience

Let us run with patience (Heb - 12:1)

To run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal. We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid’s patience the hardest to achieve.

There is a patience which I believe to be harder—the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!

Many of us would nurse our grief without crying if we were allowed to nurse it. The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in bed, but in the street. We are called to bury our sorrows, not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service—in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another’s joy. There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the “running with patience.”

This was Thy patience, O Son of man! It was at once a waiting and a running—a waiting for the goal, and a doing of the lesser work meantime. I see Thee at Cana turning the water into wine lest the marriage feast should be clouded. I see Thee in the desert feeding a multitude with bread just to relieve a temporary want. All, all the time, Thou wert bearing a mighty grief, unshared, unspoken. Men ask for a rainbow in the cloud; but I would ask more from Thee. I would be, in my cloud, myself a rainbow—a minister to others’ joy. My patience will be perfect when it can work in the vineyard. —George Matheson

“When all our hopes are gone,  

’Tis well our hands must keep toiling on  

For others’ sake:  

For strength to bear is found in duty done;  

And he is best indeed who learns to make  

The joy of others cure his own heartache.”

The Old Refiner

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver .

(Mal - 3:3)

Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner’s fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjects them to the hot fire, because such fires melt the metal, and only the molten mass releases its alloy or takes perfectly its new form in the mould. The old refiner never leaves his crucible, but sits down by it, lest there should be one excessive degree of heat to mar the metal. But as soon as he skims from the surface the last of the dross, and sees his own face reflected, he puts out the fire.—Arthur T. Pierson

“He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat,  

As He watched by the precious ore,  

And closer He bent with a searching gaze  

As He heated it more and more.  

He knew He had ore that could stand the test,  

And He wanted the finest gold  

To mould as a crown for the King to wear,  

Set with gems with a price untold.  

So He laid our gold in the burning fire,  

Tho’ we fain would have said Him ’Nay,’  

And He watched the dross that we had not seen,  

And it melted and passed away.  

And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,  

But our eyes were so dim with tears,  

We saw but the fire—not the Master’s hand,  

And questioned with anxious fears.  

Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,  

As it mirrored a Form above,  

That bent o’er the fire, tho’ unseen by us,  

With a look of ineffable love.  

Can we think that it pleases His loving heart  

To cause us a moment’s pain?  

Ah, no! but He saw through the present cross  

The bliss of eternal gain.  

So He waited there with a watchful eye,  

With a love that is strong and sure,  

And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,  

Than was needed to make it pure.”

In The Heavenly Places

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ... and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph -  2:4-6)

This is our rightful place, to be “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” and to “sit still” there. But how few there are who make it their actual experience! How few, indeed think even that it is possible for them to “sit still” in these “heavenly places” in the everyday life of a world so full of turmoil as this.

We may believe perhaps that to pay a little visit to these heavenly places on Sundays, or now and then in times of spiritual exaltation, may be within the range of possibility; but to be actually “seated” there every day and all day long is altogether another matter; and yet it is very plain that it is for Sundays and week-days as well.

A quiet spirit is of inestimable value in carrying on outward activities; and nothing so hinders the working of the hidden spiritual forces, upon which, after all, our success in everything really depends, as a spirit of unrest and anxiety.

There is immense power in stillness. A great saint once said, “All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent.” The words are pregnant with meaning. A knowledge of this fact would immensely change our ways of working. Instead of restless struggles, we would “sit down” inwardly before the Lord, and would let the Divine forces of His Spirit work out in silence the ends to which we aspire. You may not see or feel the operations of this silent force, but be assured it is always working mightily, and will work for you, if you only get your spirit still enough to be carried along by the currents of its power. —Hannah Whitall Smith

“There is a point of rest  

At the great center of the cyclone’s force,  

A silence at its secret source;  

A little child might slumber undisturbed,  

Without the ruffle of one fair curl,  

In that strange, central calm, amid the mighty whirl.”  

It is your business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation.

His Billows

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me (Ps - 42:7)

They are HIS billows, whether they go o’er us,  

Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam;  

Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us,  

And to our haven bear us safely home.  

They are HIS billows, whether for our succor  

He walks across them, stilling all our fear;  

Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer,  

And in the lonely silence none is near.  

They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling  

Through tempest-driven waves that never cease,  

While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling;  

Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.  

They are HIS billows, whether He divides them,  

Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed;  

Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us,  

Rushing unchecked across our only road.  

They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them;  

So He has promised, so His love will do.  

Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding,  

To His sure harbor, He will bring us through.  

—Annie Johnson Flint

Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain. The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship.

In His Name

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John -  16:24)

During the Civil War, a man had an only son who enlisted in the armies of the Union. The father was a banker and, although he consented to his son’s going, it seemed as if it would break his heart to let him go.

He became deeply interested in the soldier boys, and whenever he saw a uniform, his heart went out as he thought of his own dear boy. He spent his time, neglected his business, gave his money to caring for the soldiers who came home invalid. His friends remonstrated with him, saying he had no right to neglect his business and spend so much thought upon the soldiers, so he fully decided to give it all up.

After he had come to this decision, there stepped into his bank one day a private soldier in a faded, worn uniform, who showed in his face and hands the marks of the hospital.

The poor fellow was fumbling in his pocket to get something or other, when the banker saw him and, perceiving his purpose, said to him:

“My dear fellow, I cannot do anything for you today. I am extremely busy. You will have to go to your headquarters; the officers there will look after you.”

Still the poor convalescent stood, not seeming to fully understand what was said to him. Still he fumbled in his pockets and, by and by, drew out a scrap of dirty paper, on which there were a few lines written with a pencil, and laid this soiled sheet before the banker. On it he found these words:

“Dear Father: “This is one of my comrades who was wounded in the last fight, and has been in the hospital. Please receive him as myself. —Charlie.”

In a moment all the resolutions of indifference which this man made, flew away. He took the boy to his palatial home, put him in Charlie’s room, gave him Charlie’s seat at the table, kept him until food and rest and love had brought him back to health, and then sent him back again to imperil his life for the flag.

_A Bar of Steel_

I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument (Isa -  41:15)

A bar of steel worth five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

May this parable help us to be silent, still, and longsuffering. Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others. —Selected

“Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still,  

And bear Thy will;  

Courage to venture wholly on the arm  

That will not harm;  

The wisdom that will never let me stray  

Out of my way;  

The love that, now afflicting, knoweth best  

When I should rest.”  

Life is very mysterious. Indeed it would be inexplicable unless we believed that God was preparing us for scenes and ministries that lie beyond the veil of sense in the eternal world, where highly-tempered spirits will be required for special service.

“The turning-lathe that has the sharpest knives produces the finest work.”

_*When God Says No*_

*There hath not failed one word of all his good promise* (1 Kgs -  8:56)

Some day we shall understand that God has a reason in every NO which He speaks through the slow movement of life. “Somehow God makes up to us.” How often, when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way! Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full revelation of it remains for the future.

“If God says ’Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart,  

And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue,  

While the smooth road beckons to me and you,  

And the song-birds warble as on we go,  

Pausing to gather the buds at our feet,  

Stopping to drink of the streamlets we meet,  

Happy, more happy, our journey will grow,  

If God says ’Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart.  

“If God says ’No’ to our prayer, dear heart,  

And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;  

If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,  

While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;  

Ah, dear, there is home at the journey’s end,  

And these are the trials the Father doth send  

To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,  

If God says ’No’ to our prayer, dear heart.”  

Oh for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the Lord, waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ! When did God take anything from a man, without giving him manifold more in return? Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, what then? Is today the limit of God’s working time? Has He no provinces beyond this little world? Does the door of the grave open upon nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence ?

Yet, even confining the judgment within the hour of this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bring upon it some grander gift, some tenderer benediction. He has attained to an eminent degree of Christian grace who knows how to wait. —Selected

When the frosts are in the valley,  

And the mountain tops are grey,  

And the choicest buds are blighted,  

And the blossoms die away,  

A loving Father whispers,  

“This cometh from my hand”;  

Blessed are ye if ye trust  

Where ye cannot understand.  

If, after years of toiling,  

Your wealth should fly away  

And leave your hands all empty,  

And your locks are turning grey,  

Remember then your Father  

Owns all the sea and land;  

Blessed are ye if ye trust  

Where ye cannot understand.  

—Selected