Aimless Praying
H. W. Beecher. James 4:1-3 From where come wars and fights among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?… I think that most men, when they pray, are like an archer who shoots in the dark. Some one tells him that if he will strike the target placed in a certain hole, he shall have such a reward; and he lets fly his arrow into the hole, without being able to see the object which he wishes to hit, hoping that he may hit it and that the reward will be forthcoming. And we take our desires as arrows, and, without seeing any target, fire, and fire, and fire, till our quiver is empty, hoping that we may hit something, and that some benefit may revert to us. many men pray, and pray, and pray, till they are tired of praying, without any perceptible result, and then say, "It is of no use; it is fantasy and folly." Some men pray, not because they think they will hit anything, but because it makes them feel better. Very few men pray intelligently. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? WEB: Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your members?