Solomon on the Power of Prayer
By H. Clay Trumbull
"If any man trespass; . . . when thy people . . . be smitten down before the enemy; . . . when heaven is shut up, and there is no rain; . . . if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, . . . then hear thou in Heaven, and forgive." 1 Kings 8:31-36. It is a wide range of prayer that Solomon suggests in his petitions to the Lord; a range that takes in the sinner's direct relation to God; man's relation to his fellow-man; and material nature's relations to man. Solomon was a very wise man; but he had no doubt that prayer could be a means of influencing the Lord to send rain in its season, or out of its season. It is because so many of the "scientists" have less knowledge than Solomon, not because they have more, that they have doubts on this subject. Solomon had wisdom enough to trust God beyond his own knowledge. So far, Solomon is an example to every child of God.—H. Clay Trumbull.