"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we
need it." Hebrews 4:16
To the Christian pilgrim, no promises are more
encouraging, than those which assure him of an answer to believing prayer.
His times of need are so numerous--his neediness so pressing--his hours of
anxiety and fear so frequent, that this thought alone sustains his soul, "I
have a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God." Is it a time of
prosperity? then he has need to pray, "Lord, allow me not to forget
You." Is it a time of adversity? then he has need to pray, "Lord, let
me not be forgotten by You." Is it a time of health? then he has need
to pray, "Lord, give me grace to use it for Your Glory." Is it a time of
sickness? then he has need to pray, "Lord, make me patient and
submissive to Your will." At all times, indeed--even when no words
are uttered--when imploring no special blessing from on high--the Christian
ought to cherish the spirit of prayer. That time, assuredly, is the time of
severest need, when no need is felt, and no desire is cherished for a yet
larger increase of grace and strength.
True, times there often are in the Christian life, when
the soul, burdened--distracted--filled with earthly things, cannot enter
into sweet and prayerful communion with its God--when the consciousness of
sin and of unworthiness causes it, with fear and trembling, to "stand afar
off." But blessed be God, there is, for such a "time of need," a gracious
promise--"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even
know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit
prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words."
Yes, in the fullness of His grace and tenderness, He
reveals the Savior to the soul, as the all-prevailing Intercessor--the
Advocate at God's right hand. He turns the eye away from self and sin, to
the Lamb of God whose blood is all-sufficient to cleanse and purify. He
inspires the earnest supplication, "Lord, undertake for me." He clothes the
weeping penitent in the robe of the Redeemer's righteousness, so that it may
appear with acceptance before him who is "of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity;" and He draws persuasively to a Throne of Grace--Himself "praying
for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words." Precious
encouragement! Jesus at the Father's right hand--the Holy Spirit breathing
in us the longing--the desire--the humble petition--Jesus presenting the
merits of His perfect sacrifice--the Spirit enabling us to rest by faith on
the blood of sprinkling; Jesus with His eye of love on the kneeling
suppliant--the Spirit animating the soul with hope, and reinfusing "peace
and joy in believing."
Christian! remember the throne to which you are invited
is peculiarly the throne of grace. God has His throne of justice--His throne
of holiness--His throne of providence, but this is the throne of grace. He
occupies it as the God of grace, and He holds out from it the scepter of
grace. All the blessings He bestows from it are blessings of grace. They are
not to be purchased, but are given "without money and without price." They
are not conferred because of any merit or worthiness of ours, but are the
free, generous gift of divine grace. Not to the rich and mighty only are
they offered, but to the poorest, the humblest--the most abject. Oh, is not
this the very throne we need? We are poor and wretched--blind and
helpless--sinful and vile. We have no righteousness of our own--no merits of
our own--no plea of our own. But, blessed be God, here we may have every
need supplied. It was erected for poor and needy suppliants just as we are.
And, from age to age, myriads of helpless and heavy-laden souls have
gathered round it, and poured forth their desires to "the Hearer and the
Answerer of prayer." Toiling painfully through a world of woe, they have
here found rest--faint and thirsty in the valley of tears, they have here
been refreshed and invigorated--wandering solitary through earth's dreary
wilderness, they have here enjoyed holy and heavenly communion with the
Father of their spirits--opposed and beset by hostile enemies, they have
here found strength, and support, and protection. Yes, the weak have been
strengthened--the downcast encouraged--the helpless relieved--the sorrowful
comforted--the poor enriched, by drawing near to a throne of grace.
And it is, besides, ever near at hand. Go where the
Christian may, he is never distant from a throne of grace. In the quiet of
his chamber, or amid the bustle of daily toil--on the bed of sickness, or
engaged in the anxieties of business--in the sanctuary, or in the market
place--on the Sabbath, or during the week--in his home, or in the
street--wherever he may be, he can, at any moment, lift up his heart to the
Lord, assured that he shall be heard; and, if good for him, his request
shall be granted. "It shall come to pass," says the Lord, "that before they
call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." "The
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their
cry. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all
their troubles. The Lord is near unto those who are of a broken heart, and
saves such as be of a contrite spirit."
Yes; the humble cottager, when he gathers round
him his little flock, and, at the family altar, kneels in his lowly
dwelling, is worshiping in heaven--the very scene where ten thousand times
ten thousand bright and beautiful beings weave the high chorus of enraptured
adoration. The wanderer on the waters, whose voice seems drowned amid
the din of the tempest, is speaking audibly within the veil, where is cast
that 'anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,' by which a universe
might hold, and never know shipwreck. The soldier, who, amid the
thunders of the battle field, or by his lonely watch-fire, breathes forth a
prayer indited by the Holy Spirit, his utterance is heard above, far away
from the tented field and the crash of war--where the pilgrim rests from all
his labors. On the land and on the sea, at home or abroad, in the publicity
of business, or in the privacy of retirement, "the eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry."
Christian! if you would have strength for duty--patience
for trial, and deliverance out of trouble--if you would have that inward
peace which the world can neither give nor take away--if you would tread the
Pathway of Promise cheerfully and hopefully, you must give yourself unto
prayer. It is alike your blessed privilege, and your solemn duty. It brings
you into the nearest and most intimate communion with your God you can have
upon earth. It gives new life to the drooping spirit--it imparts new vigor
to faith--new fervor to love--new intensity to zeal. It raises the desires
and affections above the things of the present world, and fastens them on
the things which are above. It draws down from the heavenly storehouse the
richest blessings of the covenant of grace. It secures, in every time of
need, the help of Him who is all-mighty--the guidance of Him who cannot
err--the protection of Him who rules in heaven and on earth--the love and
sympathy of Him, who "spared not His own Son but gave Him up unto death for
us all," and who, with Him, will also "freely give us all things."
Oh, then, whatever be your need, come "with boldness" to
the Throne of grace--not the boldness which would attempt to dictate to
God--not the boldness which would prescribe to Him who "knows what things we
have need of before we ask Him"--but the boldness of a loving, trustful
child who confides in a Father's tenderness--who is conscious of a Father's
love, and who is ready to unburden itself of all its cares, and griefs, and
anxieties, assured that He will "withhold no good thing." Come thus to the
mercy-seat, and you will not be sent empty away. You will "obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in time of need"--reviving, quickening, restraining,
sanctifying grace--grace for sunshine and for storm--grace for health and
for sickness--grace for joy and for sorrow--grace for the family and for the
world--grace for living and for dying. Let nothing keep you at a distance
from the throne of grace--not even your sins and shortcomings--your
unbelief--your coldness--your ingratitude. Mourn over these; let tears of
penitence flow at the remembrance of them--but stay not away--seek the
renewal of the "blood of sprinkling"--go to Him who is "a merciful God, full
of compassion, long-suffering, and of great pity." Detail your every anxiety
in the ear of Divine sympathy--plead for mercy through the merits of
Christ's atoning blood, and rely with humble faith on God's promises of
pardon. Repair with every difficulty to Divine wisdom, and seek the supply
of every want out of the Divine resources.
Remember, the gate of access is ever open, and the winged
prayer will, in an instant, bring the Savior near--in all the intensity of
His love--in all the fullness of His grace--in all the omnipotence of His
strength--in all the sweetness of His sympathy, and assurance of His
death-destroying might, into your faint and failing heart. Your experience
will be that of David, "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with
my voice; and He gave ear unto me. You have kept my soul from death, mine
eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Because You have been my help,
therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice."
Let this, then, be the language of your soul–
"O merciful God, who have graciously promised Your Holy Spirit to those who
ask You, grant that I may enjoy His blessed influence. May He teach me how
to pray, and stir me up to greater earnestness, that, loving You above all
things, and relying ever upon Your grace, I may be able to rejoice in the
hope of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
"My God! is any hour so sweet,
From blush of morn to evening star,
As that which calls me to Your feet–
The hour of prayer?
"Blessed is the tranquil hour of morn,
And blessed that hour of solemn eve,
When on the wings of prayer upborne,
The world I leave.
"Then is my strength by You renewed,
Then are my sins by You forgiven;
Then do You cheer my solitude
With hope of heaven.
"No words can tell what sweet relief
There for my every need I find;
What strength for warfare, balm for grief–
What peace of mind.
"Hushed is each doubt, gone every fear,
My spirit seems in heaven to stay;
And even the penitential tear
Is wiped away.
"Lord! until I reach that blissful shore,
No privilege so dear shall be
As thus my inmost soul to pour
In prayer to Thee." –Anon.