00B.11 Chapter 4--Men Ought Always To Pray--No. 2

IV. "Men Ought Always to Pray"

No. 2

Last week this answer to Brother Buchanan’s first ques­tion was given: "Yes, the Scriptures do teach that we receive temporal blessings in answer to prayer and because of a righteous life." This week this point is to be discussed more fully. The following thoughts from Brother J. W. McGarvey’s excellent sermon on prayer will help us to answer many of the questions that arise when this subject is under study:

I think that there is no subject of revelation on which there is more skepticism than on that of prayer. This skepticism is not due to little being said on the subject in the Bible; neither does it arise from any ambiguity in the Scripture statements. You will all bear witness, if you read the Bible much, that there is no duty or privi­lege more frequently emphasized in the Bible than this; and that no assurance is more solemnly given than that God is a prayer-hearing God, answering the prayers of his people. This skepticism grows out of our own shortsightedness. We look around and think of the laws of nature, and remember that God does not work miracles in this day, and we do not see how he can alter things to suit our wishes and petitions. We are told that he is an unchanging God; how can he then answer prayer? Thus we set limits to God’s ability to act without doing miracles. God can bring about certain things by miracles, and it seems but reasonable to suppose that he can do some things without a miracle. . . .

Now, if James tells the truth, "the supplication of a righteous man" avails much. What he says is that it "avails much." He does not say that it avails to the full extent that the petitioner wishes it to avail; he does not affirm that it will always accomplish precisely what is asked for by the petitioner, but he affirms that it "avails much." It may be in this way, it may be in that way; but in some way it avails much. . . . When the apostle had laid down this great rule, had stated that the prayer of a good man avails much, he brought up as proof an instance in which it struck the mark in the very center. . . . He says: "Elijah was a man of like passions with us" (being a prophet did not lift him above being a man, a man of passions just like ours, though, of course, his passions were held in restraint), "and he prayed fer­vently that it might not rain" (there are a great many prayers of that kind among the farmers in our own day). "And it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."

Brother McGarvey then shows that this was Elijah’s plan to bring the people back to God. He tells the whole story, which he concludes in these words:

How did the rain come? If it had come without the cloud, that would have been a miracle. If it had come from over the desert, that would have been a miracle. How did it come? The clouds came up from the sea, as every rain cloud does. The wind blew it east­ward, and when it came in contact with the cooler volumes of air, its vapor was condensed, and the rain fell. It came just as any other rain comes.

1. An Inspired Man Cites Elijah’s Prayer as an Example for Us. James tells us that Elijah was a man of like pas­sions with us. This means that he in his prayer worked no miracle, exercised no supernatural power, or did any­thing else that any other faithful, humble servant of God might not do. If he did, then his example could not be followed by us, and the inspired James made a mistake in using it as an illustration of what we may accomplish by prayer. If we accept his example as applicable to us, we are forced to conclude that weather conditions may, at least at times—when it is the Lord’s will—be affected by the prayers of God’s children, and that temporal and national affairs may be changed by prayer. Of course, we know that it would never do for such things to be left entirely, abso­lutely, and unconditionally at the discretion of shortsighted and capricious human beings, however humble and devoted they may be and however honest and worthy their intentions may always be. The whole human family would object at once to having such power put into the hands of any man or any group of men on earth. Therefore, God must neces­sarily overrule and control in all these things and answer the prayers of his children when and in the way that is wisest and best, all the beings and all the forces involved being considered. Therefore, all true Christians will always qualify every prayer with the expression, "Thy will, not mine, be done."

2. Elijah’s Prayer Was i n Harmony with the Written Will of God. As Elijah was a submissive and humble, as well as a courageous, servant of God, of course he said in his prayer, in attitude if not in words, "Thy will be done in this matter," or, "If it please thee, let this come to pass," etc. If there had been anything in God’s law or his revealed will that forbade or inhibited such a prayer, Elijah would not have offered that prayer. If Elijah knew his own Scriptures, he knew that this was in harmony with the Lord’s threaten- ings and promises. Through Moses, God had said to Israel: But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Jehovah will send upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that thou puttest thy hand unto to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the evil of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it. Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. Jehovah will make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:15-24.) In harmony with this, Elijah could easily pray for the drought to come upon his wicked generation. In the same chapter God had promised to bless their land and prosper them when they were faithful and obedient. In many places he had said he would remove the curse when they repented. Therefore, Elijah could pray for rain after the people repented of their idolatry at Carmel. Read this: When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. (1 Kings 8:35-36.)

Read this also:

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. (2 Chronicles 7:13-15.)

There are many other places in the Old Testament where God promised health, prosperity, and all temporal blessings to those who faithfully serve him. David declared that the man who delights in the law of the Lord shall be blessed and that "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psalms 1:1-3.)

Through Isaiah, God says that those who do not recognize the fact that their food and all their temporal blessings come from him do not show as much sense as the ox and the ass. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." (Isaiah 1:3.) God taught his people to cast all of their cares upon him and he would care for them. (Psalms 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7.) He also said: "The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." (Psalms 34:7.) And again: "For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Psalms 91:11-12.)

Nearly all of these promises apply to us in this age. Even if some of the threatenings and promises made to ancient Israel do not apply directly to us, the principle still obtains. Since Elijah’s example is set before us as an illus­tration and we are urged to follow it, we know that the laws under which he prayed must in some way apply to us.

3. The New Testament Promises Temporal Blessings to Those Who in Implicit Faith Serve the Lord. No man who is acquainted with the Sermon on the Mount can doubt that our Savior taught us to trust God and to look to him for all temporal blessings and creature comforts. How could any poor doubting and quibbling soul imagine that the promises of the Old Testament are too temporal, too full, too tender, too personal and direct to apply to us, or that Paul’s language in Philippians, chapter four, verso six. belongs to a miracu­lous age, with the sixth chapter of Matthew open before him? Tho trouble is not in God’s promises; it is in our faith. We cannot fail to understand what our Lord says. His language is even plainer than the great commission or than Acts 2:38, but many of us who would fight the whole world on those passages d o not even believe wha t Christ says i n Matthew six. 11 is no wonder at all that we do not convince anybody on the passages we contend for. Read carefully what our Savior says:

Therefore I say unto you. Re not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat. or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying. What shall we eat? or. What shall we drink? or. Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:25-33.) Then consider this promise:

Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. Jesus said. Verily I say unto you. There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake, and for the gospel’s sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. The apostles taught the same dependence upon and trust in God that our Savior inculcated. They also assure us that God’s blessings will be measured to us according to our service and according to our attitude toward God. When Paul instructed Christians to lay by in store upon the first day of the week "as God hath prospered" them, he clearly implied that whatever degree of prosperity they had enjoyed had come fro m God. It mattered not how hard they had labored to obtain their money, nor through what natural processes it had come into their possession, it nevertheless had come to them through God’s mercies and providences. That is true with us today. Let us not forget that fact, brethren.

Paul plainly tells us that God is able to make all grace abound unto us so that we may have such a sufficiency as to be able to abound in every good work. He declares that God will supply us seed for sowing and increase our fruit. And God will measure these blessings to us according to our service—according to what we give into the Lord’s service. Study these verses: But this I say. He which soweth sparingly shall reap also spar­ingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as it is written. He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) being en­riched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-11.) The apostle James says: But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth. being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. (James 1:25.)

"This man shall be blessed in his doing," or, according to the psalmist, "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." When the Lord has so repeatedly promised to give tem­poral blessings to those who love him and obey his word, we certainly can pray in full assurance for these blessings if our lives are in harmony with his word. "Ye have not, because ye ask not." Thai James here meant temporal, material things is made certain by his statement that when they did ask they received not, because they wanted the thing asked for to consume or spend upon their own lusts: (James 4:2-3.) This passage implies that even though we are living the Christian life, we may not receive certain blessings if we do not ask for them. "O ye of little faith!" "Lord, . . . help thou mine unbelief."