Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 34

Your Quiet Time

The believer’s quiet time is a private devotion time, set aside for the purpose of cultivating a rich spiritual life. It is an appointment with God. It is a means of sanctification. The believer’s quiet time seeks to move him from a state of stress to a state of rest. A calm spirit in the peace and joy of God is the frame of a man who is in touch with God.

The elements of a private devotion are prayer, reading and meditating on God’s Word and singing praises to God. The quiet time must not deteriorate to a regiment. It must not take away the excitement and delight of the soul in the study of God’s Word. Yet there is a need for self-discipline to build up a habit of life-long devotion to God.

The problems and difficulties of life must not rob the joy and peace in our hearts. The devotion is a time of self-examination, confession of sin and making right with God where the Holy Spirit points out to us our deficiencies when we meditate on God’s Word. It is a time of spiritual renewal.

The psalmist David in Psalm 63 testified that his soul was “satisfied as with marrow and fatness” (Psalm 63:5a) and his “mouth shall praise” God “with joyful lips” (Psalm 63:5b) when he drew nigh to his God. When we draw nigh to Jesus, every burden is turned to blessing.

The John Sung chorus “Only Jesus, Only Jesus” speeds us along the way:

Only Jesus, only Jesus

Only He can satisfy,

Every burden is turned to blessing,

When I know my Lord is nigh.

How does the Christian cultivate the habit of a regular quiet time?

Often times, a Christian is kept close to the Lord through afflictions. David was trained in the pursuit of godliness by the providence of God in the wilderness. He was a fugitive, living in constant threat to his life. It was there in the wilderness that he was taught the lesson of spiritual discipline to be constantly in touch with his God. He wrote many psalms recounting his spiritual encounters with God.

Seek God early (Psalm 63:1a)

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee.”

David showed a determined heart, with the emphasis of seeking and desiring after God. That thirst and hunger after righteousness is a sure sign of an awakened conscience to the need of the soul. He realized his need for God. He confessed, “My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” (Psalm 63:1)

C.H. Spurgeon made a good observation concerning our spiritual need when he wrote commenting on Psalm 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks…”

 “A camel does not pant after water brooks because it carries its own water within. But the hart does, because it has no inward resources. After being hunted on a hot day, it has no inward supplies; it is drained of its moisture.

So are we. We do not carry a store of grace within of our own on which we can rely. We need to come again and again and again to the divine fountain and drink of the eternal spring. Hence it is because we have a new life, and that life is dependent on God, and has all its fresh springs in Him, therefore we pant and thirst after Him” (Edited).

Like David, who realized that God is able to help him out of his troubles, the missionary Hudson Taylor shared his testimony why he maintained his daily quiet time in a dark moment of his life.

Hudson Taylor wrote: “It doesn’t matter how great the pressure lies – whether it comes between you and God or whether it presses you nearer His heart. Feeling the pressure today? Beginning to get the under-the pile blues? As you pray today, shift your shoulders to God’s. He can handle it. He cares about you! Turn this quiet time of devotion into a pressure-release experience.”

Seek to see the glory and power of God (Psalm 63:2)

“To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”

 David has experienced the goodness of God in his life. He has experienced the care of God for him. He realized God helped him in the dangers that he faced daily in the wilderness. He learned how his spiritual and physical wellbeing were linked to his devotion to his God. Therefore he spared no effort to seek God with all his heart, to see the glory and power of God in preserving him.

Yours lovingly,

Pastor Lek Aik Wee