There are thousands of outlets the carnal man can never divine, by which a secret worship and service are rendered which are a mystery to those without. For this there is no necessity for positions of danger and excitement, or for sublime scenes of nature. The dweller in the crowded city or the mountain home, the patient in the sick-room, the housewife in her domestic duties, the merchant in his office, the commercial man on the road, the traveler from health or necessity, may all equally possess the little sanctuary indwelt by the Holy One, where the earth keeps silence before Him, and His wonders may be witnessed. There is as much opportunity for the exercise of bravery and endurance, of wisdom and skill, of generous self-forgetfulness, and of every other excellence of which man is capable, in "the daily round, the common task" of the most uneventful life, as in the most romantic and adventurous career.
When the Lord is dealing with the soul of His servant he need be a patient listener; only so is seen the little cloud, only so is heard the sound of abundance of rain. Six times did Elijah send for a sign before the sign that his prayer was answered was vouchsafed. "The little cloud rising out of the sea, like a man's hand," would have had no language to Ahab; but to the expectant prophet it bore a message distinct as an angel's voice. The little cloud was the harbinger of many clouds, the heavens were soon black with them (1 Kings 18:45). Let the kings of the earth eat and drink; but they who watch the way of the Lord must sit alone on Carmel, content to wait, and to hear six times, if need be, "There is nothing," and be perhaps the sport of mockers who know not what it is to wait alone upon God. Were this fellowship with God more deeply considered, we should have less complaining of unanswered prayer.
When God commanded Abraham to slay his son, his only son, we do not find him pleading to be spared the sacrifice. Unhesitatingly, and without taking counsel of man, he goes up to slay Mm in whom he had received the seed which was to possess the earth, and in which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. But when ungodly Sodom is about to be destroyed Abraham is heard pleading for others, and God is seen in that wondrous attitude of being detained by the prayer of a child of dust; nor does judgment fall until Abraham ceases to intercede.
A man lives without God until some terrible calamity threatens, or some great perplexity places him beyond all creature help, and sends him to the place of power, the right hand of the majesty on high. Faith brings down the help; for God is faithful; and as the man grasps the tangible answer to his prayer he may cry with Job, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear:but now mine eye seeth Thee" (Job 42:5). But why is the believer who has seen and believed-yea, who has so often not seen and yet has believed-why is it thus with him? Why has he so little knowledge of the mind of the Lord?
Life does not consist in startling events, but in minute and often-recurring perplexities and new and unforeseen obstacles in the daily walk, calling for the exercise of faith to keep alive that communication between the Saviour and the soul. Anna Shipton