Magnificent Prayer #212
Magnificent Prayer #212
Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Exodus 33:21–23
Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God.
As near as I can judge, this continued about an hour; and kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to love Him with a holy and pure love; to serve and follow Him; to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Pray About It: It sounds so casual—Jonathan Edwards simply took a ride into the woods for his health. And then, finding a quiet place, he dismounted and took a walk to think and to pray. And then—all of sudden he had a view of the glory of the Son of God. For an hour the result was continuous weeping. But those weren’t tears of sadness. How can one behold such purity and love and be sad? His desire was then to be emptied, annihilated. And then to be sanctified and pure.
If we would yearn for God Himself, we too might have such times of refreshing. But it’s important to remember that Edwards frequently visited the woods to pray. As a boy, Edwards says, “I, with some of my schoolmates joined together and built a booth in a swamp, in a very retired spot, for a place of prayers.”
God is often pleased to reveal Himself to those who seek Him in natural surroundings. It’s as if we join a chorus of worshippers as the very rocks and trees cry out in adoration of Him whom most men ignore.
Consider the similar experience of the great nineteenth century evangelist, Charles Finney who also often sought God surrounded by nature:
Mr. Gale, my minister, was standing at the door of the meeting house, and as I came up, all at once the glory of God shone upon and around me, in a manner most marvelous. The day was just beginning to dawn. But all at once a light perfectly ineffable shone in my soul, that almost prostrated me to the ground. In this light is seemed as if I could see that all nature praised and worshipped God except man. This light seemed to be like the brightness of the sun in every direction. It was too intense for the eyes. I remember casting my eyes down and breaking into a flood of tears, in view of the fact that mankind did not praise God. I think I knew something then, by actual experience, of that light that prostrated Paul on his way to Damascus. It was surely a light such as I could not have endured long.
When I burst out into such loud weeping, Mr. Gale asked, “What is the matter, brother Finney?” I could not tell him. I found that he had seen no light; and that he was reason why I should be in such a state of mind. I therefore said but little. I believe I merely replied that I saw the glory of God; and that I could not endure to think of the manner in which He was treated by men. Indeed, it did not seem to me at the time that the vision of His glory which I had, was to be described in words. I wept it out; and the vision, if it may be so called, passed away and left my mind calm.
From the book
