And Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him. Exodus 24:2. The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. Habakkuk 2:20. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord. Zechariah 2:13.
He who would really ’’come near the Lord," must not come with a distracted heart. Like Moses, the heart must alone ascend the mountain of the Lord for prayer. Let Aaron, the elders and the people, that is, all that might disturb our confidential intercourse with the Savior, remain far below, at the foot of the mountain. The Lord wants the soul alone and separate from all else that He may write His living law in the heart, not on tables of stone, but on tables of flesh. If Moses had to be alone and secluded to receive the stony, mortifying law, how much more, then, must the soul be separated from all else when it draws near to God and its Savior to receive the life-giving Spirit, to let the law which quickeneth be written in the heart and mind. If God, Christ, shall write this law in your soul, you must be quiet, and your soul uncontaminated by anything else. Every unquiet emotion in your heart hinders God in His sacred writing; disturbs the gentle speaker so that He cannot communicate anything to your soul. Let all base thoughts and all worthless wishes; all worldly desires; let the whole world, let everything remain far away, down there in the valley of forgetfulness, and come to the Lord with a disciple heart that only listens, receives, and lets its inner emptiness be filled.
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples. Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me.