the lord will answer.
everyone who has prayed devoutly and sincerely has undoubtedly experienced at times the keenest kind of disappointment because he has not received an immediate answer to his prayer, perhaps you have yourself prayed sometimes for something that you wanted badly. it was an insistent, an urgent desire. you felt that you could hardly wait even to utter the prayer. yet, your prayer has remained apparently unanswered. at such times you may have found comfort in this beautiful sunday school hymn:
"unanswered yet? tho' 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 make it known.
tho' years have passed since then, do not despair;
the lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere."
this is a beautiful hope, a sublime faith; and every one of us should cultivate such hope, such faith. moreover, everyone of us should practice such persistency in prayer as is described by the poet in this hymn.
"the prayer your lips have pleaded
in agony of tears these many years?"
for very often, without question, our prayers fail to move the father, because they are not urged upon him, nor are they upheld by that hopeful trust which knows no wavering. jesus emphasized two points in this connection that we should grapple to our hearts.
pray often and persistently.
as we have already learned, jesus condemned long. {98} repetitious prayers. he despised also the hypocrite, and the hollow prayer of the hypocrite. but jesus did not mean by such condemnation that we should not appear often before the persistently. father, and press the case for which we are pleading. on the contrary, as you will readily see from the following parables, jesus emphasized the importance of persistency in prayer.
the importunate friend.
"and (jesus) said unto them. which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and i have nothing to set before him? and he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; i cannot rise and give thee. i say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."
the unrighteous judge.
"and (again) he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, there was in a city a judge, which feared not god, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city: and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of mine adversary. and he would not for awhile: but afterward he said within himself. though i fear not god, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, i will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. and the lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith. and shall not god avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear {99} long with them? i tell you that he will avenge them speedily."
an urgent desire necessary.
these parables speak sufficiently for themselves. the lesson that jesus wanted to impart is clear. it is important that we persist in the prayer that we want urgently to be fulfilled. however, it was not jesus's purpose to teach his disciples merely to repeat constantly an urgent prayer. merely repeating a prayer is really of no more worth than uttering a long prayer full of repetitions. jesus taught that father gives his best and choicest gifts only to those who desire them intensely. we keep on praying for those things that we truly want, because the desire for them is urgent, intense and insistent; and we keep on keeping on.
implicit trust necessary.
but there is a second element that must necessarily enter into the right attitude in prayer to god. not only should our prayers express our intense desires, and be spoken frequently, but they should be accompanied by a simple, childlike trust and confidence in god.
seek first the kingdom of god.
"take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," taught jesus; "nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them. are ye not much better than they? which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature.
"and why take ye thought for raiment? consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, {100} neither do they spin: and yet i say unto you, that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. wherefore, if god so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, o ye of little faith? . . . .
"seek ye first the kingdom of god, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
labor and confidence hand in hand.
now, jesus did not mean by this splendid teaching that we should not plan for the future; nor that we should not be industrious and spin and weave and harvest. his illustrations impress the thought that we should not allow ourselves to fret over the petty worries and anxieties of life. god knows our needs before we utter them. we should rely implicitly then upon his providence, knowing that if we serve him and do our best, he will care for us as well as for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.
the sin of worry.
undue anxiety may be called almost a sin. it preys upon the peace of mind and happiness of untold thousands of men and women. the most learned and efficient men in the world have devoted much of their time to the study of worry; but no one of them has found a cure for it. many books have, however, been written advising this or that course of life to overcome the evil, and all these books possess value. but it is to be noted that the cause of worry in any man is {101} usually something over which man has no control. neither worry, nor any other thing that man may do, can change the nature of things. we are forced therefore to admit that the only cure for worry known to man is that presented by jesus. his cure consists of a childlike faith and trust in the goodness of god—a trust so simple and strong that anxious care can find no place in the mind. it consists of such a confidence in the providence of god as abraham displayed when he was commanded to offer his dearly beloved son isaac on the altar of sacrifice. abraham wavered not; he worried not; and god provided the sacrifice that was meet. of course, it requires courage, patience, and persistent effort to cultivate so supreme a degree of faith. yet, one who has it not can hardly say with truth that he has learned fully to know god. indeed, such sublime faith alone marks the truly converted and nobly devoted soul; whereas the lack of such faith reveals a lack of fulness of trust in god—almost a disloyalty to god. one cannot in this world attain to real peace and happiness without implicit faith in god. without it, one can not keep on keeping on in fervent prayer to god.
god knows best.
finally, it must be remembered that another phase of this childlike trust may affect the answer to our prayers. if they remain unanswered, it may be because it is best for us so. no other man has ever suffered as did jesus in gethsemane. no other man has ever prayed as jesus did there. yet, recall the spirit of that prayer. "o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from {102} me: nevertheless not as i will but as thou wilt." this is the true spirit of faith-inspired prayer.
thy will be done.
such petitions jesus would have us utter. he would have us pray constantly for those things that we desire intensely. he would have us repose implicit childlike trust in the heavenly father. he would have each one of us feel always, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." and in this spirit he would have us always keep on keeping on.
the references
luke 11:5-8. matt. 6:25-30.
luke 18:1-8. matt. 6:33-34.
the questions
1. what should be the feeling of one whose prayer is not immediately answered?
2. what is the lesson conveyed in the sunday school hymn "unanswered yet?"
3. why are our prayers often unanswered?
4. what is the difference between long repetitious prayers and frequent prayers?
5. what is the meaning of the parable of the importunate friend?
6. what is the lesson of the parable of the unrighteous judge?
7. why is childlike trust and confidence in god necessary in prayer?
8. what did jesus mean by teaching "take no thought for your life?"
9. how can anxiety or worry be called almost a sin?
10. what lesson do we derive from the attitude of jesus in the wonderful prayer in gethsemane?
