GLORY AND TRUST

“Do you think that any one of us spends enough time in pondering over, yes, and marveling over, God’s exceeding great glory? And do you suppose that any one of us has grasped the full meaning of the word ‘grace’? Are not our prayers so often ineffective and powerless — and sometimes even prayerless — because we rush unthinkingly and unpreparedly into God’s presence, without realizing the majesty and glory of the God Whom we are approaching, and without reflecting upon the exceeding great riches of His glory in Christ Jesus, which we hope to draw upon? We must “think magnificently of God.

May we then suggest that before we lay our petitions before God we first dwell in meditation upon His glory and then upon His grace — for He offers us both. We must lift up the soul to God. Let us place ourselves, as it were, in the presence of God and direct our prayer to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable . . . to Whom be honor and power eternal (I Tim. 6:16). Let us then give Him adoration and praise because of His exceeding great glory. Consecration is not enough. There must be adoration.

God does all He can to induce us to pray and to trust, and yet how slow we are to do so! Oh, what we miss through lack of faith and want of prayer! No one can have very real and deep communion with God who does not know how to pray so as to get answers to prayer.

Is it wonderful? Wonderful! Why, what does St. John say, speaking by the Spirit of God? ‘And this is the boldness which we have towards Him, that if we ask anything, according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of Him’ (I John 5:14-15). Have you and I such ‘boldness’? If not, why not?

To call it wonderful is to show our want of faith. It is natural to God to answer prayer: normal, not extraordinary. The fact is — let us be quite honest and straightforward about it — the fact is so many of us do not believe God. — God forgive us! Has it ever struck you that we trust the word of our fellow-man more easily than we trust God’s word?

Our loving Father does not wish any child of His to have one moment’s anxiety or one unsatisfied need. No matter how great our need may be; no matter how numerous our requirements, if we only ‘prove Him’ in the manner He bids us, we shall never have room enough to receive all the blessing He will give (Mal. 3:10).

Has He not said over and over and over again that He will grant all petitions offered out of a pure heart, ‘in His name’? ‘Ask of Me’; ‘Pray ye’; ‘Prove Me’; ‘Try Me.’ The Bible is full of answers to prayer — wonderful answers, miraculous answers; and yet somehow our faith fails us, and we dishonor God by distrusting Him!”

All of the above was derived from The Kneeling Christian, available to read online or from Zondervan Publishing.. May we worship our Lord in all His Glory, and trust Him to hear and answer just as a child trusts his earthly father.