PLEADING PRAYER | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 1, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 46.

PLEADING PRAYER.

"REMEMBER the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." Lord, I have been hoping on thy word, and I have acted upon that hope; I believe the word to be true, and I have pledged the truth of it. That is a good pleading. A man has given me a bill—not a transaction I ever had anything to do with; but suppose such a thing. Suppose I go and discount it. I say, "My friend, you must honor that bill, because I have received the cash for it. Do not fail to meet it." It is as if we said to our God: "Lord, thou hast caused me to hope upon this promise of thine. I have been raising present comfort upon the credit of it. I felt so sure that it would be fulfilled that I have taken it into the market, and I have been living upon its proceeds by hoping upon it." See how David went and discounted the promissory note; he encouraged himself by it. Turn to the verses which follow my text, and you will see. "This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickened me." He had been comforting himself by the promise; and if the promise failed, that comfort would turn out to be a sheer delusion. Will the Lord delude those who trust him? Read the next verse: "The proud have had me greatly in derision; yet have I not declined from thy law." I stuck to thy doctrine, thy precept, thy promise; I declared thy word to be true; wilt thou not keep it, and so vindicate my confident assurance? "I remembered the judgments of old, Lord; and have comforted myself." I have thus derived strength and establishment out of thy promise already. Wilt thou allow the enemy to tell me that I have deceived myself? Wilt thou revoke thy declarations? It cannot be.

This is a most blessed pleading. "Thou hast caused me to hope; therefore, O Lord, remember thy word!" When I read how God kept his promise to his people of old, I said, "He will keep it to me;" and when I remembered how he had kept other promises to me in past times, I said, "He will keep this also." His former dealings have induced us to trust in him. "Lord, thou hast caused me to hope; my hope is of thy creating, nourishing, and perfecting. I am justified in hoping in thee on this occasion, for what thou hast done for me in days gone by. Thou hast caused me to hope. It was thy word, and thy Spirit helped me to go from faith to hope; and now, when the windows of hope are opened, wilt thou not be pleased to send in a messenger of grace and peace?" O needy child of God, go home, and plead in this fashion, and you shall not return empty! Have you come into a position from which there seems to be no escape? Do not ask to escape, but cry, "Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope."

—Selected.