Spurgeon: February PM
* 02/05/PM
"At that time Jesus answered."
--Matthew 11:25
This is a singular way in which to commence a verse--"At that
time Jesus answered." If you will look at the context you will
not perceive that any person had asked Him a question, or that
He was in conversation with any human being. Yet it is written,
"Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father." When a man
answers, he answers a person who has been speaking to him. Who,
then, had spoken to Christ? His Father. Yet there is no record
of it; and this should teach us that Jesus had constant
fellowship with His Father, and that God spake into His heart so
often, so continually, that it was not a circumstance singular
enough to be recorded. It was the habit and life of Jesus to
talk with God. Even as Jesus was, is this world, so are we; let
us therefore learn the lesson which this simple statement
concerning Him teaches us. May we likewise have silent
fellowship with the Father, so that often we may answer Him, and
though the world wotteth not to whom we speak, may we be
responding to that secret voice unheard of any other ear, which
our own ear, opened by the Spirit of God, recognizes with joy.
God has spoken to us, let us speak to God--either to set our
seal that God is true and faithful to His promise, or to confess
the sin of which the Spirit of God has convinced us, or to
acknowledge the mercy which God's providence has given, or to
express assent to the great truths which God the Holy Ghost has
opened to our understanding. What a privilege is intimate
communion with the Father of our spirits! It is a secret hidden
from the world, a joy with which even the nearest friend
intermeddleth not. If we would hear the whispers of God's love,
our ear must be purged and fitted to listen to His voice. This
very evening may our hearts be in such a state, that when God
speaks to us, we, like Jesus, may be prepared at once to answer
Him.