What is this “spacious place”? What can it be but God Himself—the infinite Being through whom all other beings find their source and their end of life? God is indeed a “spacious place.” And it was through humiliation, degradation, and a sense of worthlessness that David was taken to it.

MADAME GUYON

“I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).

Fearing to launch on “full surrender’s” tide, I asked the Lord where would its waters glide My little boat, “To troubled seas I dread?” “Unto Myself,” He said.

Weeping beside an open grave I stood, In bitterness of soul I cried to God: “Where leads this path of sorrow that I tread?” “Unto Myself,” He said.

Striving for souls, I loved the work too well; Then disappointments came; I could not tell The reason, till He said, “I am your all; Unto Myself I call.”

Watching my heroes—those I love the best— I saw them fail; they could not stand the test, Even by this the Lord, through tears not few, Unto Himself me drew.

Unto Himself! No earthly tongue can tell The bliss I find, since in His heart I dwell; The things that charmed me once seem all as naught; Unto Himself I’m brought.

SELECTED

Is it hypocritical to pray when we don’t feel like it? Perhaps there is no more subtle hindrance to prayer than that of our moods. Nearly everybody has to meet that difficulty at times. Even God’s prophets were not wholly free from it. Habakkuk felt as if he were facing a blank wall for a long time.

What shall we do when moods like this come to us? Wait until we do feel like praying? It is easy to persuade ourselves that it is hypocrisy to pray when we do not feel like it, but we don’t argue that way about other things in life. If you were in a room that had been tightly closed for some time you would, sooner or later, begin to feel very miserable—so miserable, perhaps, that you would not want to make the effort to open the windows, especially if they were difficult to open. But your weakness and listlessness would be proof that you were beginning to need fresh air very desperately—that you would soon be ill without it.

If the soul perseveres in a life of prayer, there will come a time when these seasons of dryness will pass away and the soul will be led out, as Daniel says, “into a spacious place” (Psalm 18:19). Let nothing discourage you. If the soil is dry, keep cultivating it. It is said, that in a dry time this harrowing of the corn is equal to a shower of rain.

When we are listless about prayer, it is the very time when we need most to pray. The only way we can overcome listlessness in anything is to put more of ourselves, not less, into the task. To pray when you do not feel like praying is not hypocrisy—it is faithfulness to the greatest duty of life. Just tell the Father that you don’t feel like it—ask Him to show you what is making you listless. He will help us to overcome our moods and give us courage to persevere in spite of them.

When you cannot pray as you would, pray as you can.

If I feel myself disinclined to pray, then is the time when I need to pray more than ever. Possibly when the soul leaps and exults in communion with God it might more safely refrain from prayer than at those seasons when it drags heavily in devotion. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.—I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

In my distress I called upon the Lord , and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord : the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord , and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.