119. The Silent Prayer Of Faith.

The Silent Prayer Of Faith. The Silent Prayer of Faith.—Matthew 9:20-21. The Lord’s Answer.—Matthew 9:22. On his way to the house of the ruler Jairus, our Savior was followed by a pressing crowd, but his sacred footsteps are arrested, and a cry that no human ear might hear enters his heart. It is the silent breathing of the spirit of a sick and lonely one. She dares not attract the passing multitude; the world will turn coldly upon her, and cannot satisfy her want.

Conscious of her need and the Savior’s power, if she “can but touch the hem of his garment” she may be healed; but will he turn aside from his errand to the ruler’s dwelling, to notice or listen to this lonely one? Hers though silent was a prayer of holier, humbler, deeper faith, than that of the ruler, and our Savior’s halting footsteps, maybe were to sow precious seed in the hearts of the witnessing multitude, and teach us a lesson which each of us should treasure. Humility raises the soul from the dust, and brings it into contact with the spirit of the Savior.

“Though no sweet hymn ascended, No murmur of prayer, Yet He knew that the spirit Of worship was there.”

He saw that this humble one had fled from every other hope and trusted in him alone to heal her infirmity; he turns aside to listen to and answer her silent prayer. God knows the heart; its secret wishes, its earnest desires cannot be hidden from that eye that never slumbers or sleeps. The lowliest and most obscure of earth’s children may hold as high and sweet communion with God as the most lofty and elevated. The moment a sinner will trust as this woman trusted salvation is his; he has only to touch the hem of the robe of righteousness, and his pollution and infirmity are gone. The “multitude” cannot keep us from the observation of the Savior; he knows all our wants, he remembereth our frame and he knoweth we are but dust. Do we fear to kneel at his mercy-seat? Have we no words to express the anxious desire to become a Christian, to be healed of the infirmity which has been in our hearts for many long years? We have only to read of this woman’s silent prayer.

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, Unuttered or expressed, The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast.

“Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near.”