EXTRACT – ALONE, YET NOT ALONE

The sense of solitude with the Lord is a thing of the deepest importance to the child of God; because in solitude the heart renews its acquaintance with Him who alone has entrance into our most solitary retreats. When we are thoroughly alone and lonely He loves to be our visitor; it is, so to speak, the time for Him to come, like the ray of light which penetrates into the dark cavern when it can, and to the inmate of the cavern never was light more prized!

I believe two things are learned in solitude that cannot be learned elsewhere; one, that I see myself apart from everything and every one, a very necessary matter; and the other, that I see the Lord in quite a peculiar light, in a singular, unique way, apart from everything and every one. His individuality, blessed be His name, comes out to me in solitude in a way it never does in a crowd, in a meeting or otherwise. Canticles gives you an idea of this: what one is oneself when quite alone, and what He is to one when thus alone. He then obtains His singularly pre-eminent place with us – not as Saviour – that He is to the soul and known to faith; but He is known peculiarly, and as the sun rules the day when all objects are most visible, He is still most and entirely pre-eminent, and this sense of His pre-eminence, above the brightness of the sun, well-known and well-sustained, is the most effectual resource for the heart all the day long, even amid the most anxious engagements. In solitude you learn the value and the resource of His presence; and when busied in duties, etc., the heart turns, as the needle to the pole, as the flowers to the sun, to the sense that the soul has acquired in solitude of His pre-eminence, and it is confirmed in it. Thus everything falls into relation to Him. He is first, and things assume and derive importance, not as they are mere duties or delights, but as they relate to Him. You make the claims on you the sun of your system instead of Christ, hence whatever seems to come short as to them throws your day into darkness. If the Lord were the distinctly known magnet, every duty would be less anxious, and you would fulfil it better, because instead of being saddened and disappointed you would feel Him saying, when you would like it said, "She hath done what she could", Mark 14:8. It is not the amount one does, nor the consciousness of one's own usefulness that makes one happy in serving, but the assurance that one would be used. Love likes to serve, because it loves. Do not try to arrange your world with only a lamp in your hand. If you had the sun shining around you all would be easy enough. The Lord as the sun of your day is only learned in solitude with Him; the rest and satisfaction thus found in Him teaches the heart naturally and continually to turn to Him.

J.B. Stoney Vol.12 p.514-516