“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence…” (Psalm 16:11).
At the age of 35, Richard Baxter expected to die before his next birthday. After a total collapse, which was probably the result of tuberculosis and an assortment of complications, Baxter was confined to his bed. That’s when he began to do some serious thinking about his future. I guess you might say, contemplating death, he decided that he had better cram for his finals.
That’s when Baxter “began to meditate on heaven’s joys as part of his preparation for leaving this world,” as J. I. Packer put it. It was also the period of time when he began to catalog his thoughts, which eventually found their way into a best- selling book. Baxter began to spend 30 minutes a day in meditation.
In his book, Saint’s Everlasting Rest, which became a classic, Baxter wrote, “If thou wouldst have light and heat, why art thou no more in the sunshine?”
Frankly, Baxter’s words have been haunting me in recent days as I have fought for moments here and there to be in the presence of the Almighty and have enough sanity when I get there to stay focused on Him for the duration of even five minutes.
Strange, isn’t it, with all our labor-saving devices – which allegedly give us more leisure time – that the amount of spare time we actually have seems to decrease. A generation ago our homes had few of the appliances or electronic devices which have become commonplace today, and yet mothers had time to be sit down and read a book to their children, and dads were at home on the weekends to go out and throw a ball with their sons.
We want the light and the heat without taking time to be in the sunshine! And when it comes to the presence of the Almighty there is no substitute. You can get an artificial suntan by basking under a heat lamp. You can have heat today without generating fire, but when it comes to our relationship with God, there is nothing in the entire world that serves as an adequate substitute.
At the height of his very successful ministry a century ago, Dwight L. Moody was a busy man. One day he was sitting in his study working on a message when his son, then a little fellow, entered the study and sat down on the floor. He had been there for just a few moments when Moody somewhat gruffly asked, “What is it you are wanting, son?” thinking that surely the lad wouldn’t have entered his study unless he needed something of his father. Todd, Moody’s son, said, “I just wanted to be where you are!”
Years later, Morgan said that this simple illustration did more to help him understand the nature of prayer than anything he had ever read or heard.
If you want light and heat, friend, you’d better find time to be in the sunshine. Let me suggest something radical. Baxter said you need 30 minutes a day, and a person may well have been able to find 30 minutes in 17th century England, but few can squeeze 30 minutes from an overburdened schedule today.
Suppose, however, you could just take five–just five minutes a day–and spend those five minutes focusing on God, thinking of His nature and character, refusing to let your mind dwell on your schedule or your problems, just how much sunshine do you think might fill your life? Frankly, I’m working on the very discipline I’ve suggested for you, and I’ve found meditating on God for just five minutes without letting my mind wander to other things doesn’t come easy. It requires discipline.
Willing to take the challenge? Take just five today and focus on the Father. Baxter was right. “If you would have light and heat, why are you no more in the sunshine?”
Resource reading: Colossians 1.
