THE POSSIBILITIES OF PRAYER.
"Ask and receive--'tis sweetly said;
Yet what to plead for know I not,
For wish is worsted, hope o'ersped,
And aye to thanks returns my thought.
If I would pray
I've naught to say,
But this, that God may be God still:
For time to live
So still to give,
And sweeter than my wish his will."
--DAVID A. WASSON.
We do not begin to realize the possibilities of prayer. There is no
limit, for example, to the scope of prayer. We may embrace in it all
things that belong to our life, not merely those which affect our
spiritual interests, but those as well which seem to be only worldly
matters. Nothing that concerns us in any way is matter of indifference
to God. One writes: "Learn to entwine with your prayers the small
cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants of daily life. Whatever
affects you,--be it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a
wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a sorrow you cannot
disclose,--turn it into prayer and send it up to God. Disclosures you
may not make to man, you can make to the Lord. Men may be too little
for your great matters; God is not too great for your small ones. Only
give yourself to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it."
We soon find, however, if we are really earnest, that our desires are
too great for words. We have in our hearts feelings, hungerings,
affections, longings, which we want to breathe out to God; but when we
begin to speak to him, we find no language adequate for their
expression. We try to tell God of our sorrow for sin, of our weakness
and sinfulness, then of our desire to be better, to love Christ more,
to follow him more closely, and of our hunger after righteousness,
after holiness; but it is very little of these deep cravings that we
can get into speech.
Language is a wonderful gift. The power of putting into words the
thoughts and emotions of our souls, that others may understand them, is
one of the most marvellous powers the Creator has bestowed upon us.
Thus we communicate our feelings and desires the one to the other. It
is a sore deprivation when the gates of speech are shut and locked, and
when the soul cannot tell its thoughts.
Yet we all know, unless our thoughts and feelings are very shallow and
trivial, that even the wonderful faculty of language is inadequate to
express all that the soul can experience. No true orator ever finds
sentences majestic enough to interpret the sentiments that burn in his
soul. Deep, pure love is never able to put into words its most sacred
feelings and emotions. It is only the commonplace of the inner life
that can be uttered in even the finest language. There is always more
that lies back, unexpressed, than is spoken in any words.
It is specially true of prayer that we cannot utter its deepest
feelings and holiest desires. We have comfort, however, in the
assurance that God can hear thoughts. He knows what we want to say and
cannot express. Your dearest friend may stand close to you when your
mind is full of thoughts, but unless you speak or give some sign, he
cannot know one of your thoughts. He may lay his ear close to your
heart, and he will hear its throbbings; but he cannot hear your
feelings, your desires. Yet God knows all that goes on in your soul.
Every thought that flies through your brain is heard in heaven.
"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
And art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue,
But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether."
We need not trouble ourselves, therefore, if we cannot get our wishes
into words when we pray, for God hears wishes, heart-longings, soul
hungerings and thirstings. The things we cannot say in speech of the
lips, we may ask God to take from our heart's speech. There is not the
feeblest, faintest glimmer of a desire rising on the far-away horizon
of our being, but God sees it. There is not a heart-hunger, not a wish
to be holier and better, not an aspiration to be more Christ-like, not
a craving to live for God and be a blessing to others, not the faintest
desire to be rid of sin's power, but God knows of it. St. Paul has a
wonderful word on this subject: God, he says, "is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think." When our heart is stirred
to its depths, what large, great things can we ask in words? Then, how
much can we put into thoughts of prayer, into longings, desires,
aspirations, beyond the possibilities of speech? God can do more than
we can pray either in words or thoughts.
Our truest praying is that which we cannot express in any words, our
heart's unutterable longings, when we sit at God's feet and look up
into his face and do not speak at all, but let our hearts talk.
"Rather as friends sit sometimes hand in hand,
Nor mar with words the sweet speech of their eyes;
So in soft silence let us oftener bow,
Nor try with words to make God understand.
Longing is prayer; upon its wings we rise
To where the breath of heaven beats upon our brow."
Our best, truest prayers are not for earthly things, but for spiritual
blessings. When the objects are temporal, we do not know what we
should pray for--what would be really a blessing to us. You are a
loving parent, and your child is very ill. It seems that it must die.
You fall upon your knees before God to pray, but you do not know what
to ask. Your breaking heart would quickly plead, "Lord, spare my
precious child"; but you do not know that that is best. Perhaps to
live would not be God's sweetest gift to your child, or to you. So,
not daring to choose, you can only say, "Lord God, I cannot speak more;
but thou knowest thy child; thou understandest what is best."
Or, some plan of yours, which you have long cherished, seems about to
be thwarted. You go to God, and begin to pray; but you do not know
what to ask. You can only say, "Lord, I cannot tell what is best; but
thou knowest." What a comfort it is that God does indeed know, and
that we may safely leave our heart's burden in his hand, without any
request whatever!
"Lord, I had chosen another lot,
But then I had not chosen well;
Thy choice, and truly thine, was good;
No different lot, search heaven or hell,
Had blessed me, fully understood,
None other which thou orderest not."
We can do little more than this in any request for temporal things.
Says Archdeacon Farrar: "There are two things to remember about prayers
for earthly things: One, that to ask mainly for earthly blessings is a
dreadful dwarfing and vulgarization of the grandeur of prayer, as
though you asked for a handful of grass, when you might ask for a
handful of emeralds; the other that you must always ask for earthly
desires with absolute submission of your own will to God's." So
silence is oft-times the best and truest praying--bowing before God in
life's great crises; but saying nothing, leaving the burden in God's
hand without any choosing. We are always safe when we let God guide us
in all our ways.
"Ill that he blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be his sweet will."
Many of the richest possibilities of prayer lie beyond valleys of pain
and sorrow. The best things of life cannot be gotten save at sore
cost. When we pray for more holiness, we do not know what we are
asking for; at least we do not know the price we must pay to get that
which we ask. Our "Nearer, my God, to thee," must be conditioned by,
and often can come only through,
"E'en though it be a cross,
That raiseth me."
Not only are the spiritual things the best things, but many times the
spiritual things can be grasped only by letting go and losing out of
our hands the earthly things we would love to keep. God loves us too
much to grant our prayers for comfort and relief, even when we make
them, if he can do it only at spiritual loss to us. He would rather
let it be hard for us to live if there is blessing in the hardness,
than make it easy for us at the cost of the blessing.
There are certain singing-birds that never learn to sing until their
cages are darkened. Would it be true kindness to keep these birds
always in the sunshine? There are human hearts that never learn to
sing the song of faith and peace and love, until they enter the
darkness of trial. Would it be true love for these if God would hear
their prayers for the removal of their pain? We dare not plead,
therefore, save with utmost diffidence and submission, that God would
remove the cross of suffering.
"Thou canst not tell
How rich a dowry sorrow gives the soul,
How firm a faith and eagle-sight of God."
Does God answer prayers? "I have been praying for one thing for
years," says one, "and it has not come yet." God has many ways of
answering. Sometimes he delays that he may give a better, fuller
answer. A poor woman stood at a vineyard gate, and looked over into
the vineyard. "Would you like some grapes?" asked the proprietor, who
was within. "I should be very thankful," replied the woman. "Then
bring your basket." Quickly the basket was brought to the gate and
passed in. The owner took it and was gone a long time among the vines,
till the woman became discouraged, thinking he was not coming again.
At last he returned with the basket heaped full. "I have made you wait
a good while," he said, "but you know the longer you have to wait, the
better grapes and the more."
So it sometimes is in prayer. We bring our empty vessel to God and
pass it over the gate of prayer to him. He seems to be delaying a long
time, and sometimes faith faints with waiting. But at last he comes,
and our basket is heaped full with luscious blessings. He waited long
that he might bring us a better and a fuller answer. At least we are
sure that no true prayer ever really goes unanswered. We have to wait
for the fruits to ripen, and that takes time.
Then sometimes God delays until some work in us is finished, some
preparation which is needed before the best answer can be received.
The following words are suggestive:
"Unanswered yet, the prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing,
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
"Unanswered yet, though when you first presented
This one petition at the Father's throne,
It seemed you could not wait the time of asking,
So urgent was your heart to have it known?
Though years have passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you sometime, somewhere.
"Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done;
The work began when first your prayer was uttered.
And God will finish what he has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you will see sometime, somewhere.
"Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered.
Her feet are firmly planted on the rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, It shall be done--sometime, somewhere."