Abraham Kuyper

Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was something of a renaissance man. His output was impressive, almost superhuman. He was a successful politician (a member of the Netherlands Parliament and Prime Minister from 1901-1905), an erudite theologian (an earned doctorate and numerous books to his credit), a respected educator (who founded the Free University of Amsterdam), and a capable journalist (as editor of a widely read newspaper). Despite his prolific public accomplishments, he maintained a vital spiritual life. He was disciplined about the practice of morning and evening prayer, spending two hours each day walking in solitude and writing a weekly devotional for his newspaper.  He published two thousand devotionals over a span of fifty years. He wrote, “The Christian life cannot be sustained by activism alone.” He practiced a kind of worldly spirituality, a contemplative who engaged the world. His inner life shaped his outer life. He likened the balance between personal piety and activism to the seasons of summer and winter. Just as the winter drives us indoors to focus on the inner life, so summer drives us outside to engage the wider culture.
His devotionals were collected under the title Draw Near unto God.” It was an appropriate title, given that Abraham’s pursuit of God through intentional prayer and meditative Scripture reading became a driving force in his life. Many of his devotionals were based on the Psalm, “As for me, it is good to draw near to God” (Psalm 73.28).  The words of Psalm 73 lead us into prayer: