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#1.
(concluded).
A sanctuary experience.
pp. 198, 199
The point of view, changed by his entry into the sanctuary, altered the whole case.
The wicked were still prospering, Asaph and his fellows still enduring, but the
murmuring and doubting had ceased, and full, open, heartfelt praise had begun:--
"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom
have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee"
(Psa. 73: 24, 25).
All is summed up in the words that express our first definition of prayer, "It is good
for me to draw near to God" (verse 28). Prayer is essentially a drawing near to God in
the sanctuary, and for us, to-day, prayer can only be heard and answered in the Person of
the One Mediator, the Lord Jesus, in the presence of God the Father. This blessed truth is
expressed in various ways:--
PRAYER IS IN HIS PRESENCE (FACE).
"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving" (Psa. 95: 2).
"When Thou sadist, Seek ye My Face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face,
Lord, will I seek" (Psa. 27: 8).
PRAYER IS COMMUNION.
"The mercy-seat . . . . . there will I meet with thee and commune with thee
from above the mercy seat" (Exod. 25: 22).
Putting this aspect of prayer into terms proper to the present dispensation, we quote
such a passage as Eph. 3: 12-14:--
"In Whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him . . . . . I
bow my knees unto the Father."
There can be but one all-covering answer to any and every prayer that is ever breathed
in full harmony with this passage, and that is, "The peace of God that passeth all
understanding". It matters not what the trouble, the anxiety, the opposition, the doubts or
the fears that have burdened us, when we really do draw near and enter into the true
sanctuary, we come into the presence of One Who knows the end from the beginning,
Who has declared that He will accomplish all His will, Who makes even the wrath of
man to praise Him, Who makes all things (and not merely some things) to work together
for good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose, and the result of
communion in that presence is quietness and assurance. Asaph discovered there a new
point of view. The wicked and their condition remained unchanged; it was Asaph that