Closets and Secret Places

     C.S. Lewis had this imaginative vision of the Christian life. Through the avenue of a children’s story, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Lewis introduced a whole world called Narnia. Narnia was a place like our world, but different. It was different from our world because it had talking animals. It was like our world because it had the powers of good and evil at work within it. There was an evil witch who ruled Narnia and made it "always winter and never Christmas." It had cruel underlings, the wolves, who did her dirty work. But it also had a wonderful king, the lion Aslan, who appeared at just the right moments in order to help. Those who loved goodness and kindness were followers of the great Lion.

     Clearly the picture of Narnia is a picture of our world, where the powers of good and evil are in a great struggle. Our world too is infected with a witch like ruler named Satan and his dark, demonic underlings who carry on his destructive work. But there is also a wonderful king, who came and lived among us. He too shows up and helps us, often at just the right time. One day he will return and redeem our world forever.

     What has always intrigued me about Lewis’ vision is his image of the wardrobe, or closet in the story. The four children, who are living with their Uncle Andrew, come upon it and soon discovered it is the doorway to this other world of Narnia. The closet serves as the portal to meeting Aslan and all the other creatures in this other world.

     I don’t think this was by accident that Lewis used the image of the closet. Jesus linked the closet with the meeting of God as well. He was teaching on prayer and he laid down two rules for prayer. One, don’t make your prayers long and eloquent. Prayer is not for show and God knows what we need before we ask him. Second, when we pray we are to "go into your closet, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

     Closet prayer, or secret prayer is a critical principle in meeting with our Father in heaven. There are several reasons. For one, secret prayer removes the temptation to play to the crowd and it helps us to keep our prayers sincere and real. We come as we are before a God who knows everything about us, even before we speak. In one sense praying in our closet helps the real me meet the real God, who is our Father through faith in Jesus.

     Another reason secret prayer is necessary is to avoid as much distraction as possible. Someone commented on my blog, Solitary Places, that she likes to pray on the run, literally. When she is running she prays. I think that is wonderful and perhaps works for some, but it can be potentially distracting. I was a runner for years and although it was a sacred time for me, I was very religious about running, it was not a focused time of prayer. Traffic, people, noise, or simply beautiful vistas tended to draw my attention away. And then too there was the bodily fatigue that would finally grab my attention. The point of closet prayer is to give our full, undivided attention to our Father.

     Finally the main reason for "going into our closet and shutting the door," is because as hard as it might be to believe, the Father desires to spend time alone with us. He loves Ben. He loves Kathy. He loves John. He loves Grace. Jesus said the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after the one lost sheep. Jesus revealed a God with a personal passion and love for each one of us. So he said, "When you pray go into your closet, shut the door and pray to Father in secret..." Lewis grabbed that image and helped us see that closets, or big wardrobes, can be portals to meeting the Father we need, the true King who helps us at just the right time.