tozer revisited

I have been hugely enjoying the two A W Tozer spiritual classics that I mentioned earlier, and thoroughly recommend them as both beautifully written & stunningly insightful for those serious about pursuing God. I have also discovered there is much more to this author than meets the eye …

Tozer was famous as a preacher first and foremost, whose writing was a highly successful extension of his preaching. As such he was a doughty defender of biblical doctrine, whether it won him friends or not - his concern was simply to exalt Jesus Christ, & let the chips fall where they may.

Hugely popular as a powerful (& often also humorous) guest speaker, like many an Old Testament prophet he could however not be relied upon to be either politic or even necessarily polite with his hosts. He applied the Gospel fearlessly to trends he saw around him, such that he once remarked to (fellow famous preacher) Dr Martin Lloyd Jones that he had preached himself off the roster of every major Bible conference in the country …

One of his major concerns was the lack of genuine spirituality among professing Christians of his day. He zeroed in on its primary cause - one of his favourite sayings being “As a man prays, so he is” …

Tozer saw that the average church in the mid 20th century was too busy with frivolous activities to get to know God as he deserves to be known. The frenzied pace set by contemporary church leaders failed to model essential solitude and silence, compounding the fact most Christians leave little room in their lives for reflection and meditation on the things of God.

The background is that Tozer himself was drawn deeply to the life of prayer, to which he devoted the bulk of his time each day. He saw his preaching ministry as fundamentally about seeking to hear a prophetic word direct from God. Often he would withdraw from family and friends to spend long hours alone with the Lord, being prepared (rightly or wrongly) to neglect both them and other aspects of church ministry in order to do so.

A favourite way into solitude was to take his Bible on a long circular train ride around Chicago, where he knew he wouldn’t be disturbed. It wasn’t unusual for him to lose all sense of time as he prayed - on at least one occasion he failed to turn up to a conference preaching engagement and had to be substituted, because he had been in his room face down in prayer instead. When he eventually appeared he would only say he been detained by a more important appointment.

This is the point at which I find Tozer fascinating, particularly given his staunch evangelical credentials. For his own aching hunger for God led him into life-long deep & devoted study of the Christian mystics - many of whom hailed from theological traditions a million miles from himself doctrinally.

In his day such writers were out of fashion with both clergy & laity; but their knowledge of God and absorbing love for him profoundly attracted Tozer, who recognised kindred spirits to his own. However flawed the evangelical stalwart within him might consider their theology to be, he truly delighted in that ‘one holy mash-up’ I referred to earlier, that connected him to these great souls from the past who were so uncontrollably in love with God :

“There is a glorious catholicity of the saints, a mystic brotherhood of the farsighted who have long been straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the King in his beauty in the land that is very far off. With great joy and deep humility, I claim membership in that brotherhood. This is the oldest and largest church in the world; it is the church of the cross-smitten, of the God-enamoured …”

In this blog I’ve steered a bit wary of the broad term “mysticism” so far (speaking instead of the need for our spiritual disciplines to be paired with “contemplative prayer”). But the term mystic didn’t worry Tozer, who simply understood it to mean ‘one who practises the presence of God’ :

“The mystic differs from the ordinary orthodox Christian only because he experiences his faith down in the depths of his sentient being while the other does not. He exists in a world of spiritual reality. He is quietly, deeply and sometimes almost ecstatically aware of the presence of God in his own nature and in the world around him. His religious experience is something elemental, as old as time and the creation. It is immediate acquaintance with God by union with the Eternal Son. It is knowing that which surpasses knowledge”

Tozer turned constantly to these mystic masters of the inner life, from whom he looked for only two qualifications. They must know God, as Carlyle put it, “other than by hearsay”; and Christ must be all in all to them.

He relentlessly pursued their writings (being a man after my own heart who loved nothing better than raiding dusty second-hand bookshops) - in the quest to uncover some long-forgotten spiritual champion, who he would later eagerly introduce to his friends. One tangible result was “The Christian Book of Mystical Verse” (1963), a collection of poetry he compiled from the saintly mystics & contemplatives he had successfully tracked down.

He also published a list of 35 key Christian mystic titles, that he strongly recommended for those serious about pursuing “the deep things of God”. Authors included (among others) Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, Nicholas of Cusa, Meister Eckhart, Francis de Sales, St. John of the Cross, Miguel de Molinos, Frederick Faber, Madame Guyon, Thomas Traherne and Julian of Norwich (who he once referred to in a sermon as his “girlfriend” - adding he hoped it was safe to speak thus of someone dead for 500 years …)

Insights from these historic fellow seekers after God ran like a silver thread, woven against the golden thread of the Scriptures, that enriched all his preaching and writing - as he cited them, paraphrased them & sought to imitate them himself. For Tozer this was all a matter of the 'Yes, but how’ :

“These people” he would say, “know God, and I want to know what they know about God and how they came to know it”

Perhaps Tozer’s all time favourite mystic writer was Francois Fenelon. When Harper & Row republished Fenelon’s Christian Counsel under the title of “Christian Perfection” Tozer was delighted … and certainly his ringing recommendation (to readers of the denominational journal that he edited) has placed it high on my own sabbatical reading list :

“Come with a spirit of longing. Without strong desire, nothing will do you much good. Be determined to know God. Read only after prayer and meditation on the Word itself. The heart must be readied for this book, otherwise it will be like any other and have little effect. Come in an attitude of devotion, in silence and humble expectation. If possible, get alone to read it. Get surrendering and consecrating done before coming to Fenelon, he begins where others leave off … this book is for the person who thirsts after God. Never read more than one chapter a day. It would be a mistake to hurry through the book. It is to be studied, meditated on, marked, prayed over and returned to as often as it continues to minister to the soul”

I think I’ll leave matters there for the moment (sensing the need to track down a Vancouver second-hand bookstore rather urgently!) … but also add a couple of suggestions for prayerful meditation, that you may like to take up. The first is an extract from the personal “covenant prayer” that Tozer especially composed for his own ordination, which I find deeply moving.

The second is a song that Karen very kindly shared after my earlier blog on Tozer : “Come satisfy until I am even more in need of You” beautifully sums up the heart’s longing for more and more of God, that he described so eloquently in the passage I quoted last time …

Why not play the song, while you also read and pray with Tozer as follows :

“Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay thy hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet … Help me to remember that I am a prophet - not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never be a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from over-eating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I accept hard work and small rewards in this life. I ask for no easy place. I shall try to be blind to the little ways that could make my life easier. If others seek the smoother path, I shall try to take the hard way without judging them too harshly. I shall expect opposition and try to take it quietly when it comes …

If in Thy permissive providence honour should come to me from Thy church, let me not forget in that hour that I am unworthy of the least of Thy mercies, and that if men knew me as intimately as I know myself they would withhold their honours or bestow them upon others more worthy to receive them.

And now, O Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to Thee; let them be many or few, as Thou wilt. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame. I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven …

Then dear Lord, when I am old and weary and too tired to go on, have a place ready for me above, and make me to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting.

Amen.”