Part 1 (1/2)
The Wonders of Prayer.
by Various.
INTRODUCTORY.
BY D.W. WHITTLE.
To recognize G.o.d's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of consequence and importance enough to bring into existence, are not of enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles and trials consequent upon that existence.
Surely such a statement is an impeachment of both the wisdom and goodness of G.o.d.
It were far more sensible for those who deny the fitness and necessity of prayer to take the ground of the atheist and say plainly ”We do not pray, for there is no G.o.d to pray to,” for to deny prayer, is practical atheism.
So in the very const.i.tution of man's being there is the highest reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to the earth he inhabits is recognized and understood, there is no unreasonableness in a G.o.d-fearing man looking to G.o.d for help and deliverance under any and all circ.u.mstances, in all the vicissitudes of life. The earth was _made_ for man. One has said ”there is nothing great in the world but man; and there is nothing great in man but his soul.”
With this in view, how absurd to talk about ”fixed laws” and ”unchangeable order,” in a way to keep man in his trouble from G.o.d. It is all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and limit his maker. ”To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?
saith the Holy One.” The Creator is greater than his creation; the law giver is supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be inhabited by man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the interests, the eternal and spiritual welfare of the race of immortal beings that are here being prepared for glory and immortality.
Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the highest good in the training and the disciplining of the race, giving them hope in their labor and sure expectation of fruit from their toil.
But as set in operation for _man's good_, so, in an exigency that may make necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril and bring man back to the recognition of the personal G.o.d, as above, law, is it unreasonable to believe that G.o.d has power thus to suspend or overrule his own arrangements? A wise father will govern his children by rules as securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the suspending of those rules when special occasions arise, when the object for which they exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall not the living G.o.d have the same right?
So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis, however, of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable revelation of G.o.d, and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying, ”Our Father which art in Heaven.” As Christians, this is our authority for prayer. In the words, ”OUR FATHER,” our Blessed Lord has given us the substance of all that can be said, as to _the privilege of prayer, what to pray for_, and _how to pray_. There can be no loftier exercise of soul ever given to created intelligence than to come into conscious contact with the living G.o.d, and be able to say ”_My_ Father.”
And surely, as my Father, with a loving father's heart, it must be his desire that I should tell him _all_ my needs, _all_ my sorrows, _all_ my desires. And, so his word commands, ”Be careful for nothing, but _in everything_, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto G.o.d.” (Phil, iv., 6.) Under this verse there is positively no exception of any request that may not be made known unto G.o.d. So there is true faith and right Christian philosophy in the remark, ”if a _pin_ was needful to my happiness and I could not find one I would pray to G.o.d for it.”
The mistake of Christians is in _not_ praying over _little_ things. ”The hairs of your head are all numbered.” Consult G.o.d about everything.
Expect His counsel, His guidance, His care, His provision, His deliverance, His blessing, in everything. Does not the expression, ”Our _daily_ bread,” mean just this? Can there be any true life of faith that does not include this? Whatever will serve to help G.o.d's children to a better understanding of the blessed privileges of prayer, and prove to them the reality of G.o.d's answering prayer in the cares, trials and troubles of _daily life_, will approve itself to all thoughtful minds as a blessing to them and an honor to G.o.d. It is the purpose of this volume to do this. We are more helped by testimony to _facts_ than by theories and doctrines. When we have ill.u.s.trations before our eyes of G.o.d's care for his children, and His response to their faith, even in the minutest things, we understand the meaning of His promises and the reality of His providences.
The writer had many thoughts in this line suggested to him by an incident, with which he was connected, in the life of George Muller. It was my happiness to cross the Atlantic in the company of this dear brother on the steams.h.i.+p Sardinian, from Quebec to Liverpool, in June, 1880.
I met Mr. Muller in the express office the morning of sailing, about half an hour before the tender was to take the pa.s.sengers to the s.h.i.+p.
He asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York.
He was answered, No, and told that it could not possibly come in time for the steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased and told Mr.
Muller of the place near by, where I had obtained it, and suggested that as but a few moments remained he had better buy one at once. His reply was, ”No, my brother, Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New York. It is one used by Mrs. Muller, as we came over, and left in New York when we landed. I wrote ten days ago to a brother who promised to see it forwarded here last week. He has not been prompt as I would have desired, but I am sure Our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs.
Muller is very sick upon the sea, and has particularly desired to have this same chair, and not finding it here yesterday when we arrived, as we expected, we have made special prayer that Our Heavenly Father would be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so.” As this dear man of G.o.d went peacefully on board the tender, running the risk of Mrs. Muller making the voyage without a chair, when for a couple of dollars she could have been provided for, I confess I feared Mr.
Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and not acting wisely.
I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Muller left. Just as I started to hurry to the wharf a team drove up the street, and on top of a load just arrived from New York, _was Mr. Muller's chair_! It was sent at once to the tender and placed in _my hands_ to take to Mr.
Muller (the Lord having a lesson for me) just as the boat was leaving the dock. I found Mr. and Mrs. Muller in a retired spot on one side of the tender and handed him the chair. He took it with the happy, pleased expression of a child who has just received a kindness deeply appreciated, and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over it, he thanked his Heavenly Father for sending the chair. ”In _everything_ by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto G.o.d.” ”Casting _all_ your care upon Him, for He careth for you.”
So the word of G.o.d teaches us as His children (_inviting_ us to pray, _commanding_ us to pray, and _teaching us_ how to pray), that there is a divine reality in prayer. Experience abundantly corroborates the teaching.
Every truly converted man knows from this experience that G.o.d answers prayer. He has verified the promise. ”Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
(Jer. x.x.xiii., 8.) His life is a life of prayer, and grows more and more to be a life of almost unconscious dependence upon G.o.d, as he becomes fixed in the habit of prayer. This, and it is the purpose of G.o.d, is the result secured by prayer. With this in view, it will not be so much what we expect to get by praying, as a consciousness of coming into closer relations to G.o.d, the giver of all, in our prayers, that will give us true joy.
Often G.o.d's children are driven to the throne of grace by some desperate need of help and definite supply of an absolute want, and, as they cry to G.o.d and plead their case with tears before him, he so manifests his presence to them and so fills them with a consciousness of his love and power, that the burden is gone and _without the want being supplied_ that drove them to G.o.d, they rejoice in _G.o.d himself_ and care not for the deprivation. This was Paul's experience when he went thus to G.o.d about the thorn, and came away without the specific relief he had prayed for, but with such a blessing as a result of his drawing near to G.o.d, that he little cared whether the thorn remained or not--or, rather, rejoiced that it was not removed; that it might be used to keep him near to G.o.d, whose love so filled his soul.