But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly. ~Matthew 6:6 [The Passion Translation]
One day I was thinking of the difference between conjuring and dialing. And this, specifically with regard to speaking with God and making requests. Conjuring connotes some sort of incantation or magic. But that is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is not the God Jesus revealed to us.
So instead of “conjuring”, we might think more along the lines of “dialing”. I’m reminded of Dallas Willard’s humorous question and answer, “You know God’s address, don’t you? The end of your rope.”
But what would God’s phone number be?
The first thing that came to mind was “a humble and contrite heart” which David said the LORD will definitely not reject [Psalm 51:17]. We don’t use the word contrite much these days, but it means penitent. Well shoot, we don’t say penitent anymore either. It means being very sorry for any wrong you have done. So maybe we could say that in order to dial God’s number we would need to “press” humility, contrition, love, mercy…
This is how we enter our innermost chamber, that deepest part of the interior castle that Teresa of Avila wrote about 500 years ago. This is the center most room within us where only God may enter–or perhaps more accurately where God, and only God, already is. This is where we can most intimately commune with Jesus, more so than in those rooms closer to the surface where many others are allowed to enter and compete for our attention. It is in the innermost chamber where we drink freely of the Living Water and feast upon the Bread of Life, as opposed to those outer rooms where the food offered is cheap, sugary nutrient-deficient snacks.
How rewarding indeed it is to get to the place where the only voice you truly are hearing is God’s; to settle down and hear the Wind blow [John 3:8]. Oh to go there for just five minutes every day! It may require quite a few steps of descent, depending on where you’ve been hanging out and for how long, but oh so worth it.
Whichever room you spend the most time in will strongly influence your perception of reality, and color what you see as most prevalent, as well as most powerful. For example, if you stay in the room with wall to wall, ceiling to floor TVs covering political news, you will likely believe that politicians are the most powerful force in the world. (May I suggest Frank Laubach’s little book Prayer: The Mightiest Force in the World as a counterbalance. Or, you could come down to Outreach and witness the young people there being seen, known, and unconditionally loved, and then tell me if you think world leaders really possess the greatest power.)
Jesus said your Father will reward you when you meet him in the innermost chamber.
How?
I would say the reward is that divine peace which is beyond our human comprehension, the experience of the deepest connection for which we were made, as well as a more intense love for others. Is there really a greater reward than that? Than the absolute shalom that precipitates from being bathed in unconditional love?
