Silent Fellowship with the Father - Devotional by Charles Spurgeon

“At that time Jesus answered.” Matthew 11:25 (KJV)

This is a very particular, and peculiar, way to start a verse: “At that time Jesus answered.” If you will look at the context you will notice that no one asked Him a question. He wasn’t 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 the 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 spoke into His heart so often, so continually, that it was not a circumstance of enough importance to be recorded.

It was the habit and life of Jesus to talk with God. Even as Jesus was -in this world- so are we. So let’s learn the lesson this simple statement teaches us about Him. May we likewise have silent fellowship with the Father, so that often we may answer Him, and though the world will not know whom we’re speaking to, we will be responding to that secret voice unheard of any other ear. Our own ear, opened by the Spirit of God, recognizes His voice 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 humble acceptance of the great truths which God the Holy Spirit has opened to our understanding.

What a privilege it is to have intimate communion with the Father! It is a secret hidden from the world, a joy with which even our nearest friends cannot share. If we want to hear the whispers of God’s love, our ear must be purged and fitted to listen to His voice. Today, may our hearts be in such a state that when God speaks to us, we, like Jesus, are be prepared at once to answer Him.

Question: Are you often in “intimate communion” with God? Would you like to be?

by Charles H Spurgeon
Used by Permission
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.