Prayer the Characteristic Action of Religion
Canon Liddon. Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: I. PRAYER IS RELIGION IN ACTION. It is the soul of man engaging in that particular form of activity which presupposes the existence of a great bond between itself and God. It is the noblest kind of human action, in which man realizes the highest capacity of his being. This estimate of prayer not universal amongst even educated people. They regard it as an outlet for feeling, a means of discipline; but less worthy the energies of a thinking man than hard work. But prayer is indeed work. The dignity of labour is proverbial. 1. Is it true that prayer is little else than the half-passive play of sentiment? Let those who have truly prayed give the answer. Jacob wrestled with an unseen Power (Matthew 11:12). 2. Take prayer to pieces; it consists of three different forms of activity. (1) To pray is to put the understanding in motion, and to direct it upon the Highest Object. How overwhelming are the ideas which thus pass before it. The issues are realized. This an absorbing occupation for the understanding. (2) To pray is to put the affections in motion, it is to open the heart; this movement of the affections is sustained throughout prayer. (3) To pray is to put the will in motion, just as decidedly as we do when we sit down to read hard, or when we walk up a steep hill. It enters vitally into the action of prayer, and is in proportion to sincerity. Now these three ingredients of prayer are also ingredients in all real work, whether of brain or hand; in prayer they are more evenly balanced. The dignity of prayer as being real work becomes clear if we reflect on the faculties it employs; and clearer if we consider the effect of it upon the habitual atmosphere of the soul. It places the soul face to face with facts of the first order of solemnity; with its real self and with its God. And just as labour in any department is elevating when it takes us out of and beyond the petty range of daily and material interests, while yet it quickens interest in them by kindling higher enthusiasms into life, so in a transcendent sense is it with prayer. It is so noble, because it is the work of man as man; of man realizing his being and destiny with a vividness which is necessary to him in no other occupation. The nobleness of his best form of toil must fall infinitely below that of a spirit entering consciously into converse with the eternal God. II. But granted the dignity of prayer even as of labour: WHAT IF THIS LABOUR BE MISAPPLIED? 1. There is here no question as to the subjective effects of prayer; this is admitted by all. 2. Prayer is not chiefly a petition for something that we want and do not possess. It is intercourse with God, often seeking no end. 3. If prayer is to be persevered in, it must be on the conviction that it is heard by a living Person. We cannot practise trickery upon ourselves with a view to our moral edification. If God exists, if He be a Personal Being, then surely we may reach Him if we will. Where is the barrier that can arrest our thought, as it rises to the all-embracing intelligence of God. And if God be not merely an infinite intelligence, but a moral Being, a mighty heart, so that justice and tenderness are attributes of His, then surely we appeal to Him with some purpose. It is on this ground that God is said to hear prayer in Scripture. That He should do so follows from the reality of His nature as God. He who has planted in our breasts feelings of interest and pity for one another cannot be insensible to our need and pain. III. But will God answer prayer when it takes the form of a petition FOR SOME SPECIFIC BLESSING which must be either granted or refused? 1. The first presumed barrier against the efficacy of prayer to which men point is the scientific idea of law reigning throughout the spiritual as well as the material universe. But the laws of nature are not self-sustained forces; God can use His own laws. They have not escaped His control. 2. A second barrier to the efficacy of prayer is sometimes discovered in the truth that all which comes to pass is fore-determined in the predestination of God. Prayer, too, is a foreseen action of man, and is embraced in the eternal purpose of God. 3. The third barrier is the false idea of the Divine dignity which is borrowed from our notions of human royalties. Need not depreciate man's place in the universe; God's best creature, and He cares for the lowest. 4. A fourth barrier to the efficacy of prayer is thought to be discernible in an inadequate conception of the interests of human beings as a whole. But Christian prayer is conditioned. 5. The last barrier is really to be discovered in man's idea of his own self-sufficiency, 6. That prayer is answered is a matter of personal experience. (Canon Liddon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: WEB: "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.