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Page 35
"More things are wrought by prayer than
This world dreams of."
The Bible is a record of achievements impossible to man. They are
achievements of leaderships, emancipations, governments, getting money
for building God's houses, making strong the weak, waxing valiant in
fight, and turning the world upside down. The trouble with many of our
modern saints is that they seek for purity only instead of power,
ecstasy instead of excellence, self-satisfaction in a garden of spices
instead of a baptism that straightens them out in a garden of agony.
They are seekers of spiritual joys instead of good governments, cities
well policed and sewered, with every street safe for the feet of
innocence. The next revelation of new possibilities of grace that will
break out of the old Word will be that of power.
How will this divine aid manifest itself? In the giving of wisdom for
our plans and their execution. God will not help in any foolish plans.
He wants no St. Peter's built in a village of six hundred people, no
temple, except on a Moriah to which a whole nation goes up. Due
proportion is a law of all his creations. The disciples planned not
only to begin at Jerusalem, but to stay there. Their plans were wrong,
and they had to be driven out by persecutions and martyrdoms (Acts
viii, 4). But Africa, Europe, and Asia eagerly received the light
which Jerusalem resisted. Some ministers to-day stay by their fine
Jerusalems when the kitchens of the surrounding country wait to welcome
them. The Spirit suffered not Paul to go into Bithynia, but sent him
to Macedonia. Had he then persisted in going to Asia his work would
have been in vain.
We may expect wisdom in the choice of the human agents we select. Half
a general's success lies in his choice of lieutenants. No class leader
should be appointed nor steward nominated till after prayer for divine
guidance. God has more efficient men for his Church than we know of.
He is thinking of Paul when we see only Matthias (Acts i, 26). When
Paul had to depart asunder from Barnabas God sent him Silas, the
fellow-singer in the dungeon, and Timothy, who was dearer to him than
any other man.
We may expect opposition to be diminished or thwarted. Let Hezekiah
spread every letter of Rab-shakeh before the Lord and pray (2 Kings
xix, 14). The answer will be, "I have heard" (v. 20). Let the answer
to every slander that Gashmu repeateth among the heathen be, "O Lord,
strengthen my hands" (Neh. vi, 9); "My God, think thou upon Tobiah and
Sanballat according to these their works" (v. 14). Then all the
heathen and enemies will "perceive that this work was wrought of our
God" (v. l6). "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his
enemies to be at peace with him." The purpose of the manifestation of
the Son of God was "that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1
John iii, 8).
Lastly, we may expect actual help. These plans are all dear to God.
He wishes them all accomplished. They have been wisely made.
Opposition has been diminished. It only remains that our hearts be
open to guidance and strengthening. Moses was sure I AM had sent him.
Elijah had the very words to be uttered to Ahab put into his mouth.
Nehemiah told the people that for building a city "the joy of the Lord
is your strength." God strengthened the right hand of Cyrus. The
three Hebrew children and Daniel knew that God was able to deliver them
from fire and lions. "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall
give thee the desires of thy heart." And the great promise of the Lord
to be with his disciples to the end is not so much a promise for
comfort as for the accomplishment of their mission. Paul said, "I can
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." And all great
doers for God, in all ages, have gladly testified that they have been
girded for their work by the Almighty.
The designed outcome of this paper is that every reader should get a
fresh revelation of the immanency of God in the kingdom of nature and
grace; that the reader is more intimately related to him and his plans
than is gravitation; that there are laws as imperative, exact, and sure
to yield results in the mental and spiritual realms as in the material;
that he is a part of God's agencies, and that all of God's forces are a
part of his; that he may sing with new meaning,
"We for whose sakes all nature stands
And stars their courses move;"
that in the burning vividness of this new conception each man may
boldly undertake things for God--conversions, purifications, missionary
enlargements, business enterprises--that he knows are too great for
himself; that he may find new helps for spiritual victories as great as
this age has found for material triumphs in steam and electricity; and
that in all things man may be uplifted and God thereby glorified.
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