Richard Foster never ceases to amaze me. The more I read him, the more I think he's the most gifted expositor of spiritual truth since C. S. Lewis. I read Foster slowly, because he should be tasted slowly; he should be savored. Like Lewis, his insights are so profound that it's nearly impossible to do a "quick reading," because a quick reading will, no doubt, leave a vast majority of Foster's spiritual treasures untapped.

This is from Prayer:

Without reservation we vow to follow the Father's faintest whisper. In utter devotion and total simplicity we promise to obey the voice of the true Shepherd. . . . I know that all this sounds so frighteningly absolute and final. How can we possibly fulfill such promises? Well, we cannot. The matter of obedience is God's business and not ours. We cannot do a single good act except God first gives us the desire for it and then empowers us to do it. But that is just the point. God is giving you the desire -- you would not be reading these words if the desire was not already bubbling up inside of you. And he will never give the desire to do something that he will not also give the power to obey.

Admittedly, the thought of following His faintest whisper is almost frightening -- and exciting. Because, as JESUS said, knowing Him and the Father is eternal life. And certainly we follow the One we know.

[Cross-posted on The Mind's Eye.]