THE CLOSET'S REWARD

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 22, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 4

THE CLOSET'S REWARD.

“He that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

“WHAT profit shall we have if we pray unto Him?” This question, which fell from Jewish lips, betrays a heart that is a stranger to some of the richest developments in Christian experience. Living within the veil pays down. There is a reward of the closet in the closet. Curtained from the world, we have what our inner nature craves, soul-rest. We should not shirk any of the responsibilities of our daily calling; we must be “diligent in business.” But there are times when we want to get away from bustle and business; we want quiet for calm contemplation, for heart-work, which is often hard work, and which can best be done in the closet. Here we can wait upon God without distraction. There is no restraint from the fear of man that brings a snare, no captious ear, no carping critic to listen to our crude utterances. Earnest wrestling, flowing tears, deep-drawn sighs to relieve the heart’s agony—the world may call it all weakness—but they are unseen by the world. The stammering tongue may plead with a power like that of Moses which can move the Almighty.

Rome says, “Confess to the priest.” The closet is the true confessional, the safe retreat for a confidential talk with the Searcher of hearts. We can there make that frank and full confession which we would not, perhaps ought not to, breathe into the ear of the best earthly friend. We can tell of trials and of heart-aches when alone with God, with a freedom which the sacred solitude of the closet only can give. And how instantaneous often is the relief! Before we rise from our knees! While pouring out our complaints, the stream of blessed influences comes pouring in. “While they are yet speaking, I will hear.” The darkened cloud withdraws. The place becomes radiant with the Saviour’s presence, and fragrant with the spirit of Heaven. It is our Peniel, where we see God face to face; our Pisgah, from which we get a bright view of the “better land.” The burden we brought to the closet, we do not know where it is; it is gone. The soul, eased of its load, mounts on the wings of faith, singing as it soars:—

“What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!”

“I would not,” says one, “be hired out of my closet for a thousand worlds. I never enjoyed such hours of pleasure, such free and entire communion with God, as I have here.” “In prayer,” says Martyn, “I had a most precious view of Christ as ‘a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’ I hardly know how to contemplate with praise enough his adorable excellences.” How many closet-lovers could give a leaf from life’s journal that would tell the same sweet truth!

But the closet door is not the limit of the closet’s reward. There is an outflow into the life. “Thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” He who lives within the veil, carries with him that which is “known and read of all men.” Moses went down from the mount a walking advertisement. The shining of his face showed that he had been with God. His burning zeal against the idol worship of his brethren, at the foot of the mount, was born of this communion.

Look at Jacob. There comes his bloodthirsty brother, four hundred swordsmen with him. With his halting thigh, Jacob limps along. But see, Esau’s angry brow relaxes! How his face lights up! Down drops his sword. The brothers are locked in a loving embrace! Ah! Jacob had wrestled at the brook of Jabbok. He had prevailed with God, and now he prevails with man. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

An Eastern king is troubled about a forgotten dream. He threatens Daniel’s life if he does not tell it. “There is a God in Heaven,” says Daniel, “that revealeth secrets.” He goes within the veil, gets the secret, and tells the king his dream. What follows? Daniel is loaded down with gifts, made ruler over the whole province of Babylon, prime minister of the East! But he clings to his closet, although at the peril of his life. He prays himself into the lion’s den; yes, and he prays himself out again. Praying breath charms the lion into a lamb. It brings a body-guard from Heaven. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” The man who is true to his closet, has God’s best providences. “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”

How many have been snatched from frightful dangers, from threatened bankruptcy and want, or from the grasp of cruel oppressors; how many, from degraded manhood or womanhood, have been raised to high social position in having their natures Christianized, and have started on a career of usefulness, by going to their closet more than by all other means combined!

The closet is the secret of spiritual strength, which makes the man of prayer a marvel. He is panoplied with helmet and sword and shield. Fiery darts fall harmless at his feet. Calamity comes: the world looks on to see him fall. There he stands, self-poised, buoyant, master of the situation. Emergencies are sprung upon him; for the moment the balance trembles, but the equilibrium is not lost. How can he pass so composedly through the checkered scenes of life? His closet tells the secret. Shut him out from this, and he is Samson shorn of his locks.

The crowning recompense of the closet will be its final award. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Before him shall be gathered all nations.” It will be the “Grand Review.” The books will be opened. Every prayer in secret, every tear that bedewed the place of kneeling, will be remembered with a recompense worthy of God. Blessed transition! From prayer to praise, from agony to ecstasy, from clouds and darkness to eternal sunshine.—Christian at Work.