Words of Hope: Closet Prayer
I love C.S. Lewis. I just read a book about his friendship and struggles with J.R.R. Tolkien. They lost some of their joy for one another toward the end of their lives. Tolkien was very critical of Lewis, which naturally drives distance and unconsciously injures the relationship.
I have been listening to some of Lewis’s speeches from the book, The World’s Last Night. This title references an essay originally entitled, “Christian Hope–Its Meaning for Today.” The piece is not lighthearted even though his original title included the word hope. His premise was to encourage each of us to live our lives and our vocations in the knowledge that a judgment is coming. For those who live in the fear of God, this brings hope.
The phrase, “the world’s last night,” is a refence to a poem by one of my favorite poets, John Donne. Here is a portion of his poem.
HOLY SONNETS.
XIII.
What if this present were the world’s last night?
Mark in my heart, O soul, where thou dost dwell,
The picture of Christ crucified, and tell
Whether His countenance can thee affright.
Donne is asking the question, “If this were the end of creation as we know it and we face the holy day of reckoning, a day where our inner heart’s machinations will be revealed, will we stand in forgiveness before Christ or find His gaze upon our lives excruciating?”
In solemnity, I consider that question. I stand in my darkened closet, where there is only the slightest sliver of light coming through the crack in the door. I bow my head and picture the moment of my judgment when I will stand before a Holy God who will search me fully. All I have said and done, all that I have not done, my selfish preferences, and secret judgments and sins.
I pray the mercy and blood of Christ, to wash and atone all my sins and shortcomings and to raise me to the love and joy God has appointed for me, to wash me white as snow and remember my sins no more. This is the discipline. To consider each day my world’s last night and to set my mind on things above, not on the things that are here on earth.
Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:1-3
