Too Late to Pray!

Francis Bourdillon, 1873

Do you pray? I hope you do, for I am sure that without prayer you can be neither happy nor safe. Yet many never pray. Day after day comes, and night after night—and they never pray. Not one sin do they confess—and not one blessing do they ask for. They speak to one another—but they never speak to God. From one week's end to another, their knees are never bent in prayer. They eat; they drink; they work; they sleep—but they do not pray. They live as if there were no God.

Perhaps you are such a person. You never pray. Yet you would be startled at being told that the time had come when God was no longer willing to hear your prayers. For, prayerless as you are—you think you may pray when you please; and perhaps you mean to begin some day. Probably you do not mean to die without prayer—though you live without it. You think you can begin when you choose—though you are too careless to begin yet. At present, you are often urged to pray, and assured of God's readiness to hear you. If a minister or a Christian visitor or friend speaks to you about your soul, most likely this is one of the chief things he presses on you—he begs you to pray. 

But suppose that, instead of this, you should find some day that no prayer of yours would be heard, that you were too late to pray. Would you not be shocked? Yes, careless, thoughtless, godless man or woman—would not this news shock you: "God will not hear you now!"

It will be true one day of some. It will be true you, if you go on to the end as you are now. I do not mean in this life; for, even to his last hour, if a sinner will but draw near to God through Jesus—we are encouraged to hope that he will be accepted. But I mean in the state beyond the grave, in eternity, on the great day of judgment. All will be changed then. Now God is willing to hear—but you will not pray. Then you will pray with all your heart and soul—but God will not hear.

Who says this? God Himself. I would not dare to write it, if I did not find it in the book of God. These are His words: "Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke" (Proverbs 1:34-30).

There is not in all the Bible a more solemn passage than this. There are many other places in which God threatens the wicked; but in most of them there is still some hope, some mercy, spoken of. If they will turn—then all may yet be well; God will hear their prayer, and pardon their sins and accept and bless them. But Scripture tells us that the time for turning will then be past, that there will be no more space for repentance, and that even prayer will not be heard. It will be all over with the wretched sinner then! His day of grace will be ended, and there will be no hope, no mercy, no hearing for him forever.

And this is all the more dreadful to think of because the God who will refuse to hear then, is the very same who will hear now.

When God Himself refuses to hear the sinner's prayer—to whom shall he turn? Why, this is that very same gracious God who has been calling him to repent all his life long. This is the God who has invited him again and again to pray—and he would not. This is the God who has told him times without number, that he would hear him and forgive him and save him—if he would but seek; and seek he would not. No one was ever such a friend to him as God has been; no one ever gave him so much, bore with him so long, dealt with him so kindly. To whom then shall he betake himself—when God forsakes him? Where shall he look—when his best Friend turns away from him? He has trifled with God's patience, despised His warnings, been ungrateful for His mercies, and gone against His will. Now at length, he finds God to be against him—now at length, God has turned into his foe. Where shall he find a friend now? To whom shall he go?

Men do not believe this, or they forget it. They live as if God would bear with them always, as if they might provoke Him as much as they please and keep Him waiting as long as it suits them. They live as if they might choose the time when, if ever, they will turn and begin to pray; and as if the Almighty would certainly wait their pleasure. As plainly as words can speak, God says "no" to this. If there were no such thing said in any other part of the Bible, that passage from the Proverbs would be enough to contradict such a thought.

No, God waits long—but He will not wait forever. For years He listens, as it were, for the sinner's prayers—but He will not always do so. There will be an end to this, an awful end, perhaps a sudden and unexpected end. Death may come in a moment, without repentance! Sense and reason may go before the man has begun to pray. Or he may lie long on his death-bed and keep his senses to the last, and yet die in hardness of heart, without one cry for mercy. And then what next? A new state, an awful change, a terrible day. "Then they will call on me—but I will not answer!"

Now mark! Here are two things happening together, two new things—the sinner beginning to pray, and God leaving off hearing. I said it would shock you, even now, to be told that God would no longer hear prayer; even now, when you do not pray. But how much more, when you do pray!

And you will pray then: "Then they will call on me." Who will call? The very people who would never call before. Yes, they will call upon God then. The most stout-hearted will be down on their knees; the hardest and boldest sinner of them all, who used to mock at the things of God and to lead others astray, will then be trembling with fear; and the lips that used to curse and swear and lie, will be moving in prayer. No heartless forms then, no empty words. Then all will be in earnest—men pleading for their eternal lives, fearing and trembling before God. Ah, what prayers will those be! How will men pray then, who never prayed before!

In vain! Too late! The time is past! There is no throne of grace now—but a throne of judgment instead. God will not hear. They used to be told not to put off caring for their souls. And now indeed they will put it off no longer; the sight of the judgment throne has driven every such thought from their minds. Alas! They have already put it off too long; it is too late. They used to be told to seek—and they would find; to ask—and it would be given to them; to knock—and it would be opened unto them (Matthew 7:7). 

But how is this then? They knock, and there is no opening; they ask, and no one gives; they seek, and yet find nothing: no mercy, no answer, no admittance. Alas! They know the reason too well. Words come to their minds, which they often heard, but little heeded. Oh, might they but hear them once more, as they used to hear them then: "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." "Those who seek Me diligently, will find Me." "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!" (Isaiah 55:6, Proverbs 8:17, 2 Corinthians 6:2). 

But they have let the day of salvation slip by, and abused the accepted time; they would not seek God diligently while He was near; they would not call upon Him while He might be found; they would not seek Him. This is why there is no answer to their prayers: they would not pray in God's time—and He will not hear in their time.

Reader, what have you to say to this? Are you such a person? Are you one who refuses to hear the voice of God, and neglects to pray to Him? If you are, this comes as a warning to you—a solemn warning! Do not say that it does not apply to you—because you do not openly set yourself against God, because you are not an unbeliever or blasphemer, denying the Bible and scoffing at religion. You need not be this—and yet you may be one to whom the warning applies.

To neglect prayer, to disregard the gospel, to pay no attention to religion, not to close with the offer of salvation in Christ—this is enough. The words, "Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out My hand and no one regarded," exactly describe a prayerless, thoughtless person.

Thousands upon thousands are living so—not merely the grossly wicked—but the careless and worldly. They are letting both time and means of grace to slip by. They are not regarding Him who is stretching out His welcoming hand to them. They are refusing Him who calls. Call after call comes: sermons, sicknesses, deaths, blessings, losses, warnings, providences, the voice of conscience! In a thousand different ways, is the hand of mercy and love stretched out to invite them, but in vain. They pay no heed. They reject all God's counsel; they will none of His reproof. Is it so with you?

The time of which I have been writing, that solemn time when prayer will not be heard, has not yet come. The day of grace still lasts. God is a prayer-hearing God still. Will you not pray?

Think how you would pray then—and pray so now. Think what your prayers would be if ever you should be brought to that state, "when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you." Think what your prayers would be then, and such let them be now. Only with this difference, this happy difference: then they would be too late—now they may be in time; then they would be the prayers of despair—now they may be the prayers of hope and faith. God is waiting to be gracious—His arm of mercy is still stretched out. Full forgiveness and free salvation may still be had through Him who died on the cross for sinners.

Now your prayers may be heard—for the throne of grace is opened to you, and there is One there to plead your cause, your Mediator and Advocate—Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners. Come then, poor fellow-sinner—come to the throne of grace! Come and seek, while you may find; ask, while it shall be given you; knock, while the promise lasts that it shall be opened to you. The Lord may yet be found. He is still near.

Be not afraid of coming, because you have stayed away so long; as long as God calls—so long you may come. Do not keep back from prayer, because you know not how to pray. What do you need? That is the simple question. Do not you need pardon and help—the blood of Christ to cleanse you, and the Spirit of God to change and sanctify you? Then ask for them. Your needs should teach you how to pray.

Think no hard thoughts of God. "God is love" (1 John 4:8)—love not merely to those who love Him, but to the poor wandering sinner also. Consider how this has been shown. "God demonstrates His own love to us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And will He, who spared not His own Son for sinners—refuse now to hear the sinner's prayer, when he pleads for Jesus' sake?

Oh, believe in the love of God. Believe that, for Christ's sake, He will hear your prayer. You are not "too late to pray." Be sure that, even while you are yet a great way off—your Father will see you and have compassion upon you and meet you with His open arms of mercy (Luke 15:20). He Himself has said, "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).