Robert Murray McCheyne
To all of you, my dear flock, who are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blame before Him in love, your pastor again wishes grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ . . .
Oh, there is nothing that I would have you to be more sure of than this, that "God hears and answers prayer." There never was, and never will be, a believing prayer left unanswered. Meditate on this, and you will say, "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplication" (Ps. 116:1).
First, God often gives the very thing His children ask at the very time they ask it. You remember Hannah (1 Sam. 1:10): she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. "Give unto thine handmaid a manchild." This was her request. And so she went in peace, and the God of Israel heard and granted her petition that she had asked of Him; and she called the child's name Samuel, that is, "Asked of God." Oh, that you could write the same name upon all your gifts! You would have more joy in them and far larger blessings along with them . . .
Expect answers while you are speaking in prayer. Sometimes the vapors that ascend in the morning come down in copious showers in the evening. So may it be with your prayers . . .
You remember, in Acts 12, Peter was cast into prison, "but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." And, behold, the same night the answer surprised them at the door. Oh! what surprises of goodness and grace God has in store for you and me, if only we pray without ceasing! If you will pray in union to Jesus, having childlike confidence towards God, having the spirit of adoption, crying Abba within you, seeking the glory of God more than all personal benefits, I believe that in all such cases you will get the very thing you ask, at the very time you ask it. Before you call, God will answer; and while you are speaking, He will hear.
Oh, if there were twenty among you who would pray thus, and persevere therein like wrestling Jacob, you would get whatever you ask! Yea, the case of Daniel shows that the effectual fervent prayer of one such believer among you will avail much. "Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Ps. 37:4).
Second, God often delays the answer to prayer for wise reasons. The case of the Syrophoenician woman will occur to you all, Matthew 15:21-28. How anxiously she cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David! But Jesus answered her not a word." Again and again she prayed, and got no gracious answer. Her faith grows stronger by every refusal. She cried, she followed, she kneeled to Him, till Jesus could refuse no longer. "O woman, great is thy faith! Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." . . .
Again, read that wonderful passage, Revelation 8:3, where it is said that the Lord Jesus, the great Intercessor with the Father, offers to God the incense of His merits, with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne. Christ never loses one believing prayer. The prayers of every believer, from Abel to the present day, He heaps upon the altar, from which they are continually ascending before His Father and our Father; and when the altar can hold no more, the full, the eternal answer will come down . . .
Third, God often answers prayer by terrible things. So David says in Psalm 65: "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation. And all of you who are God's children have found it true. Some of you have experienced what John Newton did when he wrote that beautiful hymn, "I asked the Lord that I might grow." You prayed with all your heart, "Lord, increase my faith." In answer to this, God has shown you the misery of your connection with Adam. He has revealed the hell that is in your heart. You are amazed, confounded, abashed . . . You cleave to a Savior God with a thousand times greater anxiety. Your faith is increased. Your prayer is answered by terrible things. Some of us prayed for a praying spirit. "Lord, teach us to pray." God has laid affliction on upon us. Waves and billows go over us. We cry out of the depths. Being afflicted, we pray. He has granted our heart's desire. Our prayer is answered by terrible things.
Fourth, God sometimes answers prayer by giving
something better than we ask. An affectionate father on earth often does this. The
child says, Father, give me this fruit. No, my child, the father replies; but here is
bread, which is better for you. So the Lord Jesus dealt with His beloved Paul, 2
Corinthians 12:7-9. There was given to Paul a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
buffet him. In bitterness of heart he cried, "Lord, let this depart from me." No
answer came. Again he prayed the same words. No answer still. A third time he knelt, and
now the answer came, not as he expected. The thorn is not plucked away ? the messenger of
Satan is not driven back to hell; but Jesus opens wide His more loving breast, and says,
"My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
Oh! this is something exceeding abundant above all that he asked, and all that he thought.
Surely God is able to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think"
(Eph. 3:20).