Speak, Lord, in the Stillness (pt. 1)

I’ve been meaning to write something about the first day session of Whetstone 2007. It was a message by my pastor, Mark Minnick, and was titled, “Speak, Lord, in the Stillness.” Pastor Minnick took his text from Exodus 33: 1-17 and raised the question of the necessity of getting alone with God. Acknowledging that many preachers argue against the necessity of seeking quiet times with the Lord, Pastor Minnick demonstrated from Scripture that it seemed to be something highly desirable and was the practice of God’s men from the time of Moses onward.

Some in the ministry argue that because of the nature of their ministry and the demands made on their time they can meet with the Lord anytime, anywhere without something as time-consuming as private devotion. Pastor pointed out that if any man, other than our Lord, had those kinds of demands made of him and had that kind of access to God so that he might feel no need of private time with the Lord, it was Moses. Yet from this point on in the wilderness journey “Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting” (Ex. 33:7). This was before the tabernacle was erected. So Moses, to whom God spoke face to face as a man speaks with his friend, felt the need for shutting out the world for times of getting alone with God. In this way he foreshadowed our Lord Jesus Christ, who had greater demands made of Him and unbroken fellowship with the Father, yet He would often slip away for seasons of private prayer.

The picture on the brochure for the conference is of a room that John Wesley set aside in the heart of London for getting alone with God. Wesley was 76 years old when he moved into this house, and he was still pursuing the same thing that Moses was. The purpose for such a place and time for meeting with God is to shut out the clamor of the world so we can focus our attention on the Lord. Jonathan Edwards used to walk out into the woods to meditate and be alone with God. A.W. Tozer had a small study behind the platform in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church he pastored. He used this room for getting alone with God in the south side of Chicago. When he entered the room, he would change into a pair of old pants he called his “praying pants” and get down prostrate on the floor with his nose pressed into a handkerchief to avoid breathing dust from the carpet. And there he met with the Lord. This just seems to be the felt need of God’s men from the time of Moses down to the present. While this passage in Exodus doesn’t mandate the practice, it definitely presents private devotion as something highly desirable.

I’ll try to post more on this message soon and bring out some of the details from Exodus 33 that are “written for our admonition.”

Speak, Lord, in the Stillness (pt. 1)