Some Perplexities in Prayer
By F. C. Spurr
To many persons the difficulty connected with prayer is not intellectual, but practical. They believe their prayers have been sincere and earnest; yet no definite answer to them has been forthcoming. It may help such to recall the three chief Bible cases of what we may agree to call for the moment unanswered prayers; i. e., the request of Moses to enter the promised land, the plea of Elijah that he might die, and the entreaty of Paul that the thorn in the flesh might be removed. These eminent servants of God proffered certain definite requests, which were not granted. And why not? We may best answer the question by placing each of them alongside the perfect request in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” At once we see their defects. These requests lacked the essential element of true prayer. At their heart was dictation rather than submission. None of these petitions were granted; but in each case a far better thing was given. For Moses was reserved the honor of burial by the divine hand, an honor which would never have been his had he died in the ordinary way in Canaan. For Elijah a rare passage home was designed, a far grander departure than the disappearance of a disappointed man. To Paul special grace was given, which won for him a veritable triumph. So if God refuses to grant to us the thing we ask for, we may be sure that his Fatherhood is reserving a better thing for us further on. We have even a more striking instance of this larger answer which God gives to his children, in the life of Paul. The apostle prayed that when he visited Rome he might have “a prosperous journey.” Rom. 1:10, 11. In this was included the hope of a smooth sea passage, since there are one or two indications in the Acts that the apostle was a poor sailor. How did God answer the prayer of his most devoted servant? We are told in the graphic story of the voyage recorded in Acts 27: There arose “a tempestuous wind.” Verse 14. “Exceedingly tossed with a tempest.” Verse 18. “Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and . . . all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” Verse 20. “The soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.” Verse 42. And finally there was a shipwreck. Surely this was a singular kind of “prosperous journey!” A discouraging answer to a saint’s prayer! Did the apostle think his prayer was answered? Did he regard it as a “prosperous journey?”—Undoubtedly. He was the only man on board the ship possessed of a cool head and tranquil heart. His presence prevented a general massacre of the prisoners. God gave him “all . . . that sailed with him.” Verses 23, 24. “Prosperous journey!” Indeed it was. According to the letter it was not; according to the spirit the prayer was answered two hundred and four score times more liberally than he had dared to request. In saving the whole ship’s crew and passengers, God more than answered Paul’s own personal request.—F. C. Spurr.