Rooted In the Shadows

Walking With God by Costen J. Harrell (1928)

“He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was to come, he was there alone.” Matthew 14:23


Some months ago, in the late autumn, the writer was in the hothouse of one of our florist. We were in the cellar, and in the dimly lighted place one could see arranged in regular file long rows of flower pots. The florist explained that in these pots had been planted the bulbs for their winter flowers. It was best for them, he said, that they be rooted in the dark. Not in the glaring sunlight, but in the subdued shadows their life-giving roots were putting forth. They would be ready for the open day a little later. Then their gay colors would cheer many hearts. Then their sweet perfumes would laden the winter air. Rooted in the shadows to bloom in the light!
It is with human life as with flowers. How often it is recorded by the evangelists that Jesus retired from the multitude to a secluded place! He loved men and found joy in their companionship. He never wearied of ministering to their necessities. Matthew records that the Lord had spent a busy day. A great throng had followed him — five thousand in number, besides women and children. He healed them and taught them, and as the day was drawing to its close he miraculously fed them. What a wonderful ministry! “And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” Here is written one of the sweetest secrets of his life and labors. In the shadows of the evening the Divine Son was alone with his Father. Through retirement in the secret place he kept his life in tune with his Father’s will. In the quiet hour he prepared himself for the busy hour.
This same Jesus saith to us, “Enter into thy closet and … shut the door.” Life cannot come to its best if it is spent always in the rush of things. Every one needs to be alone at some time during every day. The needs of the spirit require a secret place where we may calm our souls in the presence of God, meditate on things worth while, think through our problems, sweeten our tempers, and warm our hearts in the love of God. Have a trysting place with God, and let it be said of you, “When the evening was come he was there alone.” Faith puts forth her tender shoots in the secret place.
There is reason to fear that we are forgetting how to meditate. The haste of our modern life militates against it. We love the garish day. Much of our Christianity is a sickly bloom because we have no quiet place in which the root of faith may grow. We meet the day’s temptations before we are ready for them. We undertake to lead others before we have mastered ourselves. We try to force the bloom before we have rooted ourselves in Jesus Christ. Return, O soul, to the secret place and linger there. A godly life, like the flowers, is rooted in the shadows to bloom in the light.