Thought-Reading Extraordinary
(No. 1802)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 5, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble: You will prepare their
heart, You will cause Your ear to hear." Psalm 10:17.
NOTICE at the outset, the logic of this verse. It is very simple, very
forcible, very accurate logic. It runs thus–"You have"–"You will."
"Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble: You will prepare their
heart." When you know that the Lord God is immutable, "the same
yesterday, today and forever," you may conclude without mistake that
what He has done, He is prepared to do again. The argument from the
past to the future would be a sorry one if you were dealing with
fallible man, for what man has done is no sure guarantee of what he may
do! He is such a creature of freaks and whims, but when you have to
deal with the Eternal God, who is faithful and true, and changes not,
you may reckon with safety that the thing which has been is the thing
which shall be. Well did the Apostle say, "Who delivered us from so
great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet
deliver us."
On looking at the text, again, you will see that the same blessed logic
is carried a step farther, for you read, "You will," and then, again,
"You will"–"You will prepare their heart, You will cause Your ear to
hear." Faith, first of all, concludes that God will bless because
offormer blessings. And then she is so sure of her conclusion that upon
it she is prepared to build up a further confidence. This is a noble
faith, worthy of imitation–but it is by no means common–not a
hundredth part as common as it ought to be! To doubtful minds it is
difficult, even, to infer the future from a present fact immediately
before their eyes, but to the believing heart it is an easy thing to do
something more than that! Namely, to draw an inference of hope from a
former inference of hope.
Faith builds a sure abode with invisible stones. She expects, because
she has experienced, and experiences what she expects! Why not? Is not
faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen? Since that which we believe is sure, it is worthy to be the
foundation of further faith. We are very fond of that verse–
"And a "new song 'is in my mouth, To long-loved music set Glory to You
for all the Grace I have not tasted yet."
By such language we praise God for mercy not yet received. And our text
suggests another practical use of "things not seen as yet," namely, to
make them, as apprehended by our faith, the basis of a still higher
confidence in God. This is to be built up on our most holy faith. Rest
assured that this is not constructing castles in the air, for our faith
is no delusion! It is made of solid, substantial stuff, before which
even the supposed infallibilities of science are trifles light as air.
Because our Good Shepherd has made us to lie down in green pastures, we
argue that there is no cause for fear though we walk through the valley
of death-shade–and from that we surely gather that goodness and mercy
shall follow us all the days of our lives. Such reasoning is as
accurate as the demonstrations of geometry! The Lord will never leave
us to be ashamed of our hope. Learn this logic and it will keep you in
good stead in times of distress, when nothing but certainty will
sustain you. The Lord is good and, therefore, He will be good! He will
keep the feet of His saints and because He will do this, we shall enter
His palace with joy.
Apply this logic to prayer. God has answered prayer and, therefore, He
will answer it! Of this first statement many of us are witnesses. The
evidences of that Truth of God are with us in daily experience–we have
proofs of the power of prayer as innumerable as the stars of Heaven.
Because the Lord has heard us out of His holy place, we infer that He
will still hear us and, therefore, as long as we live, we will we call
upon Him. This is no casual thing, but it is Jehovah's perpetual name
and standing memorial–the God Who Hears Prayer! Never while the earth
endures will He forsake the Throne of Grace and turn a deaf ear to the
cries of His suppliant Israel!
The subject of this morning is thus introduced to you. It is necessary
that you pray, for the needy must cry to their helper. And it is
profitable that you pray, for the bosoms of suppliants are filled with
benedictions. It is not a vain thing to wait upon God–it is your
comfort, your strength, your life! If you seek honor, it should be your
delight to pray, for nothing is more ennobling than to win the ear of
the Lord of All! A man admitted to audience with the Most High is
honored in an unspeakable degree. We shall speak, this morning, in the
way of five observations drawn from our text. May each one be made
profitable to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I. Our first observation is written upon the surface of the Scripture
before us–THE LOWLIEST FORM OF PRAYER MAY BE MOST TRUE AND ACCEPTABLE.
And what is that lowliest form of prayer? Is it not described in the
text? "The desire of the humble." It is not the prayer of the serene
faith of Abraham, nor the wrestling of energetic Jacob, nor the
intercession of prevailing Moses, nor the pleading of holy Samuel, nor
the commanding cry of Elijah shutting and opening Heaven–it is only a
desire–a motion of the heart towards good things! And yet the Lord
hears it. Indeed, the lowliest form of prayer may be the truest, for
the essence of all real prayer is desire. Words are but the habitation
of prayer, the living tenant is desire.
We see from our text that desires are prevailing prayers, for the Lord
has made a point of hearing them–"You have heard the desire of the
humble." Other forms of prayer may be attractive to man and yet they
may have no influence whatever with the living God. But this manner of
supplication has been successful from of old, even as it is
written–"He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him." And again,
"The desire of the righteous shall be granted." In fact, prayer is
desire, as our poet puts it–
"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed The motion
of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast."
The lowest form of true prayer secures the ear of the Highest and what
more is needed?
Observe, it is only a desire–"the desire of the humble." A desire may
be altogether unattended by speech. The suppliant may not be able to
put his desire into words at all. He may be too sorrowful; his emotions
may choke his utterances. He may be too quiet and so may be quite
unversed in the use of speech. He may be only able to pour forth groans
that cannot be uttered and tears whose eloquence is silent–yet God is
pleased to hear the desire which lacks expression! Many prayers are
very prettily expressed. In fact, they are expressed so grandly that
their tawdry fineries will not be tolerated in Heaven! Those prayers
will never enter Heaven's gate which are meant to catch the applause of
man! God will say, "They were meant for men, so let men have them." He
does not stoop to accept man's leftovers and if a prayer is meant to be
a feast for man, God will not be a second-rate guest at its table!
On the other hand, many sincere persons condemn themselves because they
cannot offer public prayer as their Brethren do–they even tremble,
perhaps, to pray before their families–and this is a grief to them. I
think, if they are men, they should prove their manhood by overcoming
such diffidence. I would urge them to make the attempt with much
resolution and perseverance–and should they fail in it through
positive inability, there will be cause for regret–but no reason for
self-condemnation. There may be more prayer in the silent than in the
fluent. God has heard prayers which nobody else could possibly have
heard because there was no vocal sound about them. So quick is the ear
of God that He hears that which is not properly the subject of
hearing–the true prayer which abides in silence shall not meet with a
silent God!
This desire may not be recommended by any conscious attainments on the
part of the offerer. The man may reach far in his desire, but he may
have attained to little beyond. He may have a wealth of desire and a
poverty of everything else and yet he may be heard of the Lord.
Possibly his confession may run thus–"I desire to be humble, but I
lament my pride. I desire to be strong in faith, but I mourn my
unbelief. I desire to be fervent, but I sigh over my lukewarmness. I
desire to be holy, but I confess my transgressions. I desire my prayer
should be such as God can accept, but I fear that I waver, or ask
amiss." Now such a confession, if penitently presented, will not
prevent our obtaining the promise, for the Lord has heard the desire of
the humble.
If your heart seethes and boils with desires, the steam thereof will
rise to Heaven! If your stock-in-trade is made up of empty vessels and
of little else, the Lord can deal with you as He did with the Prophet's
widow, "who had empty vessels not a few." Your little oil of Grace He
can multiply till every vessel is filled to the brim! Have you
desires?–great, hungry, thirsty desires? Then bring them to the Lord!
Are your desires as insatiable as the horseleech, which is always
sucking, but which always craves for more, crying always, "Give, give,
give"? Then say with David, "All my desires are before You," and be
assured that the Lord satisfies the desire of every living thing! Be
comforted if your desires are awake. You are praying and your cry is
being heard! You shall yet say, "This poor man cried and the Lord heard
him." Your desires have voices of their own–they knock hard at
Heaven's door and it shall be opened unto them.
Note, again, that this desire may be unaccompanied by any confident
expectation. When you pray you ought to believe the promise and expect
its fulfillment. It is the duty and the privilege of every suppliant to
believe that when he prays in the name of Jesus, he must and shall be
heard. But sometimes humility, which is a good thing, is attended by a
lack of faith–which is an evil thing–and this much hinders prayer.
Humility is deceived by unbelief and so it gives way to the dark
thought that its poor feeble prayer will not speed with God. I fear
that in some cases this lack of expectancy is an effectual barrier to
prayer and prevents its being answered. But it is forgiven to naturally
despondent, heavily-laden spirits whose fears are not so much doubts of
God as a deeply humiliating judgment of themselves.
It is not so much the case that their faith is sinfully defective as
that they have a painfully acute sense of their own unworthiness–and
so when they cry they hope that the Lord will hear them and they mean
to wait upon Him till He does–but they are sorely afraid. They will go
nowhere else, for they have no other hope but that which lies in the
Free Grace and sovereign mercy of God. But they do not exercise that
happy expectancy which the sure promise warrants their enjoying. My
Brothers and Sisters, I would chide your unbelief, but I would still
encourage your desires, for that desire which God hears is not to be
despised! The text says, "Lord, You have heard the desire of the
humble," and the Lord will yet hear your humble sighs and groans! And
you shall be surprised to find the Lord doing for you exceeding
abundantly above what you asked or even thought! May your faith grow
exceedingly, being fed upon the heavenly food which the Lord deals out
to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
This leads me to observe that this commencing form of prayer which the
Lord nevertheless hears, is here further described as, "the desire of
the humble." It has this advantage about it, that it is free from
pride! Some men's prayers, if they were to pray them as their foolish
hearts really desire, would be requests that they might be made famous.
Be not startled when I say it–I fear that many men proudly ask to be
humble! They desire to be humble in order that they may be admired for
it! I have no doubt, whatever, that some professors seek great Grace
that they may be highly thought of and greatly set by in the market of
the Church. Have we not all found that in the rushing stream of our
earnest zeal there will be some backwater which runs not towards God
but towards ourselves? Have we not even strived to win souls that we
might be notable as soul-winners?
Yes, and have we not sought to glorify God that we might shine in the
reflection of that glory? "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord,"
has been the language of many a Jehu! Oh, it is hard to keep out pride!
This Psalm says much concerning the proud man and the oppressor, whom
God abhors, and will surely visit in judgment! But then this bright
word shines forth like a lone star in a dark night! Never was a
precious pearl found in a rougher oyster shell! May the Lord keep us
humble if we are so–and make us humble if we are not! I believe every
Christian man has a choice between being humble and being humbled. Now,
to be humble is a sweet thing–there is no lovelier spot on the road to
the Celestial City than the Valley of Humiliation–he that lives in it,
dwells among flowers and birds, and may sing all day long, like the
shepherd boy whose song ran thus–
"He that is down need fear no fall, He that is low no pride. He that is
humble ever shall Have God to be his guide."
If you do not choose to be humble you will have to be humbled–and that
is not at all a desirable thing. To be humbled is to be sorely smitten
and made to suffer shame in the estimation of your fellow men, both
ungodly and godly. Certain persons who have carried their heads very
high have struck them against the beam and have had to go with bruised
foreheads for the rest of their lives! God resists the proud, but gives
Grace to the humble. Therefore may God help us to offer before Him,
"the desire of the humble." "The desire of the humble" is saturated
with a Gospel spirit and, therefore,
is acceptable with the God of all Grace! Pride seems born of the Law,
though I scarcely know why it should be, for the Law censures and
condemns. Humility is the child of the Gospel and is brought up upon
the knees of Grace. If you would be a child of God, you must be lowly
in your own esteem. If you would be heard in prayer, you must come to
God as needy and empty. Low thoughts of ourselves are the companions of
prevailing prayers. No man may expect to receive out of the fullness
that is treasured up in Christ Jesus until he is willing to confess his
own poverty. Grace for Grace will be given only to those who feel need
upon need–all successful pleading must find their argument in Free
Grace!
We must never urge claims against the Lord as though He were our
debtor, for then Mercy will not deal with us– we have appealed unto
the Caesar of justice and unto Caesar we must go! Let us have done with
merits and rewards! Let this be our cry, "For Your mercy and for Your
truth's sake, and for Your Son's sake, hear You the voice of my
prayer." This is the proper Gospel spirit. If we plead in any other
fashion, we shall be sent away empty. Still, this, "desire of the
humble," is apt to be somewhat restricted and straitened. If we
contract our desires to the measure of our just deserts, they will
shrivel into nothing, for our deserts are less than nothing! It is ill
to pray according to your sense of what you have a right to ask. You
have a legal right to ask for nothing but justice! And who among us can
abide its action apart from Jesus? "If You, Lord, should mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"
You had better pray according to God's command–and that runs
thus–"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." The truest humility
is that which is immediately obedient to the gracious precept and
accepts, without question, that which the Lord so freely gives. We have
a natural right to nothing–but when the Lord commands us to open our
mouth wide, He thereby gives us a Covenant right to all things! Yet,
dear Brothers and Sisters, if your humility should cramp your desire.
If you feel as if you would desire a great gift but dare not ask, still
it is a desire. If you say, "I see the sweetness of the mercy, but it
seems too good for such a soul as mine," yet I spy at the back of your
humility a true and strong desire and I pray that the Lord may hear
that desire and answer you for His mercy's sake. Forget not this first
Truth of God–that what seems to be the lowliest form of prayer is,
nevertheless, true prayer.
II. Our second point is full of comfort to those who have begun to
pray. GOD IS QUICK TO HEAR THE LOWLIEST PRAYER–"You have heard the
desire of the humble." This must be a Divine science–this art of
hearing desires. We have heard a good deal, lately, about thought
reading. I give no opinion of that matter among men, but here is a
wonderful instance of it with the Lord. "You have heard the desire of
the humble." This kind of desire reading is the prerogative of God,
alone! He knows our desires even when we do not know them, ourselves!
Sitting in this Tabernacle you are desiring, but it is quite impossible
for the person sitting next to you to know your wishes–and it is quite
as well, perhaps, that it is so.
Certain it is that the servant of God, Eli, himself, fresh from the
shrine of the Most High, could not read Hannah's desires. Her lips were
moving and one would think if anything could be learned, it might be
from the moving of the lips. But Eli thought her drunk and, therefore,
chattering to herself, and so he rebuked her. Was it not a mercy for
Hannah that God heard her humble desire and knew all about it? Beloved,
the Lord is reading your thoughts now! My dear Sister, your groaning
out of the very deeps has ascended to the heights! You would not like
to tell your inward feelings– perhaps your secret is too painful to be
told–never mind, God's ear is so quick that He can hear your desires!
Wonderful art! We would be very glad if the Lord had promised to hear
us when we speak, but He has gone far beyond that–He hears the
unspeakable and unutterable!
Was there ever power and pity like this? Be comforted, you that are
full of desires, this morning, and are sitting here with hearts ready
to break, crying in your spirit, "Oh that the Lord would hear me! Oh
that He would give me peace! Oh that the days of my mourning were
ended! Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to
His seat!" Do not sink in despair! There is no reason for fear–your
case is among the most hopeful–for it is the way of the Lord to hear
the desire of the humble.
It is an art which has been exercised by God in all ages. He does not
merely possess the power, but He exercises it! I like my text for
putting it in the past tense–"You have heard the desire of the
humble." It is a matter of frequent fact and not merely a possible
event! It is not the bare assertion of a power, but the record of a
deed! All along through history, wherever gracious men have lived,
their hearts have talked with God as well without words as with them.
The pulsing of human spirits, God has heard as surely as if they had
been loud as the beat of a drum! The sigh of the soul has come up
before Him as clearly as if it had been the note of a clarion! The
Lord's ear is never heavy. He is not weary of the feeble-
ness and faults of the poor man's petition. The Lord still hears in the
day of trouble–and the name of the God of Jacob defends us–
"When God inclines the heart to pray He has an ear to hear!
To Him there's music in a groan, And beauty in a tear."
Today let this be told! It ought not to be buried in ungrateful
silence. It is mentioned in the text, let it be mentioned in your
conversation. If some here present had the opportunity, we could tell
you how God has heard our desires and how, at times, before the desire
has actually been formed in the soul the answer has come, according to
that Word of God, "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are
yet speaking, I will hear." We had a desire laid upon our heart which
we never communicated to any living person except the living God–and
we carried that desire in our heart for weeks and months, constantly
allowing it to burn in our bosom, and frequently letting it break out
in groans and broken cries–and in due time our sighs reached the heart
of God! As surely as we have sown in prayer, we have, in due season
reaped a harvest of blessing!
Our Lord, even in Gethsemane, was heard in that He feared–sure pledge
to all His redeemed that they shall be heard in their hour of darkness!
Happy are they who dwell in God, for they may have what they please at
the Mercy Seat. Is it not written, "Delight yourself, also, in the
Lord, and He shall give you the desires of yours heart"? Has it not
been so with you, O you who abide under the shadow of the Almighty? I
charge you, then, to abundantly utter the memory of His great goodness!
Fail not to tell your experience of the Lord's faithfulness–for God
loses much glory and poor sinners and saints, too, lose much
encouragement to pray–when children of God are silent about their
success at the Throne of Grace.
Oh, I wish I could be the means of stirring some, this morning, to pray
the prayer of faith while sitting here! You may say, "I will pray when
I get home." You may do so, if you please, but I am urging you to
something more speedy! Remember the publican? It was in God's house
that he prayed and though he did not dare to lift his eyes to Heaven,
yet He sighed in his soul this prayer–"God, be merciful to me, a
sinner!" And he went down to his house justified rather than the other!
I do not ask you to withhold that prayer till you reach home, but would
it not be a grand thing to be saved here, and to go home justified? You
shall have that unspeakable blessing, now, if your desire is a true one
and you pour it out at once, believingly, before the Lord! He has heard
the same many times and is prepared to hear you in the same manner.
Why should not this first Sunday in October be a day of Grace unto your
souls? "Seek you the Lord while He may be found; call you upon Him
while He is near." This is an accepted time! The Spirit of God is near!
If God is now inclining you to pray, do not resist the gentle movement
of His Spirit, but let your prayer come forth, encouraged by the sweet
language of my text. Say unto the prayer-hearing God, "You have heard
the desire of the humble. Why should You not hear my desire at this
hour, and bless me, even me, also, O my Father?"
III. Thirdly, we will remark that THE HEART IS THE MAIN MATTER IN
PRAYER. That is clearly shown in the
text–"Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble." Desires are the
fruit of the heart. "You will prepare their heart." When God comes to
deal with men in a way of Grace, His first business is to prepare their
heart so that, most assuredly, the state of the heart is of prime
importance. The heart is the source, the seat and the essence of
supplication. Prayer with the heart is the heart of prayer–the cry of
our soul is the soul of our cry.
Without the heart, prayer is a wretched mockery. There is as much
Divine Grace in the bark of a dog or the grunt of a swine as in a form
of prayer if the heart is absent. And God is as likely, no, more
likely, to hear the cry of ravens and young lions, than to regard
prayers uttered in Chapels, Churches, Meeting Houses or Cathedrals, if
the mind is not in earnest. Do not say, "I read my collect this
morning"–you may read 50 collects and be none the better! Do not say,
"I went through the prayers which I learned from a godly mother"–you
may go through them 20,000 times and yet never pray once! Unless the
heart speaks with God, you have done nothing for your own good with all
your "Pater Nosters" or other goodly words–no, you may have done
something to your own hurt in all this pretence of praying!
I fear that much so-called public prayer is nothing better than
presumptuous sin. If your child should come to you and ask a favor in
an affected voice, would you notice him? If, instead of saying, "Dear
Father, I want such-and-such," he should take up a book and intone such
words as these, "Dearly beloved Father, I have to request of you that
you, in your
great affection, will give unto me such-and-such things," you would not
regard his nonsense! You would say, "Come, boy, what do you want? Tell
me plainly!" And if he continued to intone, you would drive him out of
the room, perhaps, with the aid of your foot! I fear that this praying
in sing-song is the most fearful mockery God ever hears. Fancy Peter,
when he was beginning to sink, intoning, "Lord, save me!" When the
heart really gets to speak with God, it cannot talk in affected
tones–it throws such rubbish overboard!
But cannot a man pray with his heart and yet use a written prayer?
Certainly he can! Many have done so for years. If you cannot walk
without your crutches, I would sooner you walked with them than not at
all. Still, it is not the best words put together by the most devout
men that ever lived, nor the holiest language composed extemporaneously
by yourself, that can make up prayer if the heart is gone. Words are
seldom more than the baggage of prayer. Language, at best, is but the
flesh in which prayer is embodied. The desire of the heart is the life
of the prayer! See you to your heart, for God sees to it–"You will
prepare their heart." Sometimes the Lord puts words into men's mouths.
He says, "Take with you words, and come unto Me," and thus He prepares
words for their use. But in general, the main concern with God is that
the heart is prepared to plead with Him.
Without the heart, prayer is a nullity and when there is but little
heart, prayer is a failure. He that prays with little desire asks God
to refuse him. If you go through your prayer and your mind is wandering
up and down about a thousand vanities, your desires are feeble and your
supplication will have little effect. Prayer must be fervent to be
effectual. It must be ardent to be acceptable. If the utter failure of
your prayer would not greatly grieve you and if its success would not
much gratify you, then depend upon it, you will have to wait long at
Mercy's wicket before it will admit you. "The kingdom of Heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by force." Importunity is
indispensable! Our Lord has given us many parables to that effect. To
play at praying will never do–your heart and soul must be fully awake,
for no sleepy prayer can enter Heaven. We must praise God with our
whole heart and we must pray in the same manner. If double-minded man
may not expect to receive anything of the Lord, neither may a
half-hearted man. Above all things, keep yours heart with all diligence
if you would speed at the Throne of God.
Success comes to the prayer of a glowing heart. When the soul grows
warm, the spirit is fervent and desires are strong, then, Brothers and
Sisters, do not spare your prayers! We are not always in that
condition–let us pray much when we are. We are bound to prepare
ourselves for prayer, but I believe the best qualifications are strong
desires and intense longings. No preparation for food is equal to
intense hunger. You have the best sauce with your meat when you are
hungry. It will be your wisdom, when your desires are sharp, to pray
more than you ordinarily do. You cannot always pray alike, but when
good times come, use them! When a fair mind fills the sails of desire,
then make all possible headway. Set apart a longer season for private
devotion when the soul is all alive and active in it. At another time
you may have to try very hard and make but small progress, for the
chariot wheels may be taken off–let it not, at such a time, be a
source of regret that you wasted a happier season. Cease not to obtain
blessings beyond number both for yourself, for the Church and for a
perishing world–but take heed that your heart is found greatly
exercised with longings of soul before God.
IV. Fourthly, GOD HIMSELF PREPARES THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE. "You will
prepare their heart." I am greatly rejoiced by this statement that God
will prepare our hearts to pray, because it is a most important
business on which so much depends. On the heart, the whole machinery of
life depends and it needs preparing, especially for devotion. You
cannot spring out of bed and, on every occasion, pray in a moment
without thought or reflection. You cannot say to yourself, "I have just
been listening to ungodly talk and now I am going to pray." It will be
poor, pitiful praying which springs up from the barren soil of
thoughtlessness. We need preparation in coming into the courts of the
Lord's house–the soul has to take her shoes off her feet because the
place is holy.
But this preparation is often as difficult as it is necessary and,
therefore, it is a great mercy that our God undertakes to work it in
us. Surely none but the Lord can prepare a heart for prayer! One old
writer says it is far harder work to raise the big bell into the
steeple than to ring it afterwards. This witness is true. When the bell
is well hung you can ring it readily enough–but in that uplifting of
the heart lies the work and the labor. Before musicians begin to play,
they attend to their strings and see that their instruments are in
order–you wish, perhaps, that the operation could be dispensed with,
but it cannot be–it is one of the most necessary parts of the
musician's work. Until he has learned to tune his instrument, what does
he know? Until he has tuned it, what can he do? I wish we were all made
ready, as a people prepared for the Lord.
These processes by which the heart is prepared may have commenced far
back. Our gracious God may have prepared the heart of a man to pray
today by a work which He worked upon him, or for him, 20 years ago. The
Lord may be working a man up to a certain prayer by years of sorrow or
joy. The poet who composes a sonnet may not be able to tell you why the
inspiration came to him at that particular moment, for it may have been
the outcome of his soul throughout the whole of his life. That which
the songster threw into words, today, may have lain hidden in his soul
from his boyhood. He was not prepared for penning his stanzas, then,
but his later life trained him to speak in numbers and to clothe noble
thoughts in the dress of attractive language. So may it be with our
prayers–they may be the juice of a life-vintage, the ripened harvest
of youth and manhood. In any case, God prepares the heart to be blessed
when He is prepared to bless it.
One of the most difficult things in preparation for prayer is the
restraining of loose and wandering thoughts. I do not know how perfect
Brothers and Sisters keep themselves free from every evil thought, for
I find myself defeated often when I would shut out these vile
intruders! Honestly, I may express my belief that these carnal boasters
have as many vain thoughts as other people. The ravenous birds will
come down upon the sacrifice even when Abraham offers it–and it costs
infinite pains to drive them away. Intruding thoughts surround us like
a plague of flies–they are here, there, and everywhere! It is well,
indeed, that God should prepare our hearts, for in this one point our
weakness is complete. Egypt suffered from a plague of flies which all
Pharaoh's armies could not drive away, but when the Lord heard the
prayer of Moses, it is said, "The Lord removed the swarms of flies:
there remained not one." That was a deliverance, indeed–truly this was
the finger of God!
When the Lord comes to prepare His people's hearts by His Spirit, He
chases away every wandering thought so that there remains not one.
Tradition says of Solomon's temple that though much meat was consumed
there, and this naturally attracts flies, yet there was never a fly in
the holy place. I wish it were so with our holy place! O that it might
be so that whenever we pray, all evil thoughts may be driven out. This
is a miracle, and none can perform it but the Lord our God. "You will
prepare their heart."
Next, the Lord prepares His people's hearts by giving them a deep sense
of what they need. I know your grief, your temptation, your misery and
the crying out of your spirit under the lashes of conscience, but all
this is right, thus you are instructed in the art and mystery of
supplication. Nobody cries to Christ so well as the man who is
beginning to sink. Jonah's cry in the whale's belly was the most
intense prayer he ever prayed. When the iron enters into your soul,
then you cry unto the Lord in your trouble! A sentence of death in your
own soul is a mighty quickener of supplication. When your spirit is
overwhelmed with sorrow, then look up to Christ, the Savior, and find
Him to be your soul's joy! Our desires are apt to sleep, but when the
Lord, by His Spirit, reveals to us our spiritual poverty, we long, pine
and sigh for spiritual blessings.
When a man, out of the anguish of his heart cries for mercy, then he
begins to search out and lay hold upon the promise. To bring the
promise to remembrance is a part of the Holy Spirit's work–He takes of
the things of Christ and shows them to us. Oh, how blessedly a man can
pray when he gets hold of a promise, when he is sure that God has a
blessing in store for him, when he is positive that the Lord is
faithful to His covenant and will not withhold any good thing from him!
The Lord also works in us strong faith, holy perseverance and high
expectancy. And in all these ways He prepares our hearts to pray.
Nor is this all. The text does not say that God will only prepare the
heart to pray, but it says, "You will prepare the heart," and this is a
wider work, making ready for other matters besides prayer. He will
prepare the heart to receive the answer, for many of us are not as yet
ready to enjoy what God is ready to bestow. Do you need anything which
Jesus can give you? Give your heart up to the Holy Spirit, that He may
prepare you to seek the blessing and prepare you to receive the
blessing when the time comes for the Lord to grant it. "You will
prepare their heart"–this is wonderful condescension on God's
part–and on our part we ought to feel the utmost encouragement to
prepare our own hearts for earnest supplication.
V. Lastly, PRAYER FROM PREPARED HEARTS MUST BE HEARD. "You will prepare
their heart, You will cause Your ear to hear." I wish you would join
these two sentences together in your minds and carry them home with
you. Let the two bells ring in harmony–"You will prepare their heart,
You will cause Your ear to hear." Ring them over and over, again, and
let their blended music linger in your ears.
First, if God has had love enough to prepare your heart to pray, He has
Grace enough to give you the blessing. The more difficult thing of the
two is not to give the blessing, but to prepare your heart to cry for
it! If He has done the one, He will certainly do the other. Consider
the truthfulness, the faithfulness and the goodness of God–and you
will see that it is not possible that He should teach a man to pray for
a blessing which He will not give! I cannot imagine any of you
tantalizing your child by exciting in him a desire that you do not
intend to gratify. It were a very ungenerous thing to offer alms to the
poor and then, when they hold out their hand for it, to mock their
poverty with a denial. It were a cruel addition to the miseries of the
sick if they were taken to the hospital and left there to die untended
and uncared for.
Where God leads you to pray, He means you to receive. You find a holy
desire in your heart? The Lord put that desire into your heart and, for
the honor of His infinite majesty, lest He stain His goodness and
dishonor His great name, He must hear you! With what comfort would I
address those here who are beginning to pray. I know I speak to some
who are uneasy, unrestful. You tell us you are seeking peace, that day
and night a desire for salvation occupies the entire chamber of your
soul. Well, this did not come from your own nature–neither the devil
nor the old Adam has taught you to pray!
Dear Hearer, you can be sure that the great Father who is moving you to
cry to Him is hearing you! He is inclining His ear to catch the
faintest moan of your spirit. Believe that He is hearing you. Cast
yourself at the feet of His dear Son. Behold the wounds of Jesus–let
them invite you to draw near to God. I know of no such eloquent mouths
as the wounds of the dying Lord! Let them persuade you to come to
Jesus–to trust, to rest at His dear feet–for since He has inclined
your heart to pray, He is about to hear you and bless you! The Lord be
with you for Jesus' sake. Amen.