LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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42
ALONE WITH JESUS “And when they were alone, He expounded all
things to His disciples” The disciple who would have the explanation,
interpretation and unfolding of the scriptures must tarry alone with Jesus.
Secrets are not divulged while surrounded by the multitudes, and while busily
engaged and pre-occupied. If you would confide in a friend and really open up
your heart you wait until such a time as your friend is disengaged and can take
time to come apart and be alone with you. So they who would know the secret and
hidden things of God and have Him “expound all things,” must find time and
opportunity to be alone with Him. Such is the philosophy of love; while there may
be the throbbing heart, and some expressions of affection in the presence of the
multitudes, the hour of true bliss is that experienced when the doors are
closed, the curtains drawn, or, in the secluded nook or corner, the lovers are
left alone. It is there that love finds her opportunity for
expression, and the confiding heart gives forth its secrets. The intensity of
love demands the secret interview and longs for an opportunity of being alone
with the object of its love. We read of “the secret place of the Most
High” (Psalm 91:1), and “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him” (Psalm 25:14). So we can see plainly the Lord has secrets and a secret
place for His children. How beautiful it is to feel and know that one is
permitted to come into “the secret place of the Most High.” Visitors and
strangers come into reception halls and living rooms, but only they who are most
intimate—known to be tried and true—can come into the secret place; and what
is the meaning of a secret place, but the shutting out of all that might intrude
or detract; to be left alone with the object of its love? Again we say, the
deepest expressions of mutual affection, confidence and pleasure are not in
public assemblies, in hurried greetings and mere social relations, but in the
“secret place,” alone and unobserved. It is then, and then only, that the
most sacred things are mentioned and deepest secrets confided. It is exactly so
in our relations to Jesus. Men and women who fail to take time to be much
“alone” in the “secret place” with Jesus, are never deeply spiritual and
are compelled to get their news concerning the kingdom second hand. They know simply what the preacher or someone
else tells them; hence, they are ever running after men—the newest preacher
and the latest evangelist to get some more news, second hand, concerning the
King’s business. But they who have learned the secret of being much alone with
Him in the secret place, get the secrets of the Lord directly from the King
himself, and so are not dependent on the newspapers for the latest news. It is a
wonderful thing that Jesus should take us into His confidence, and tell us the
very secrets of His own loving heart. Not to the multitude, but to those who
tarried alone with Him, did “He expound all things.” No amount of religious activities or service
can make up for the lack of secret communion and fellowship with God. Joseph and
Mary had been engaged in the worship and service of the
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