Sweet Hour of Prayer

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…”  

Every time I hear these words, a song begins to play in my mind that was indelibly engraved there at the age of five when I learned Psalm 91 put to music.  

“...I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress:  My God; in Him will I trust.'"  

Psalm 91 has been a nearly life-long source of promises to claim. 

But the first words… I pause on them for the first time.  Realization replaces vague awareness. 
How did I ever miss it?

"He that dwelleth in the secret place…” 

The condition... that goes with the promise.  


So the "secret place"... That was the place our Savior resorted to frequently.

Dwelling… That’s residing, inhabiting, living.  Not visiting occasionally, or when badly needed.  
My mind runs rapidly along the words... There it is again--the condition echoed.

"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation."


And again.


"Because he hath known my name." 


I think it's the most beautiful condition I've ever read.  If we will live in continual communion with God, living a lifestyle of connectedness with the Divine,  learning to know Him, He will do for us everything that He says will do in that chapter.

"No other life was ever so crowded with labor and responsibility as was that of Jesus; yet how often He was found in prayer! How constant was His communion with God! Again and again in the history of His earthly life are found records such as these: “Rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”  “Great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15, 16; 6:12.

    “As one with us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial." Desire of Ages p. 362

Get this one...

"As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity.  Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world.  His experience is to be ours."  Desire of Ages p. 363

I want that experience. I want it...  I have a had a taste, but I want more.

And, imagine, if we could all find that secret place,

We could turn this world upside-down.*


*Great Controversy p. 210.1