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Notes on Open Letters

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

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Notes on Open Letters.

By Editor

How EASY it is to get puzzled over a difficulty that is of our own making! Many a man first assumes that there is a contradiction in Bible statements, and then wonders if that contradiction can be explained away. No puzzling in this line is more common than that which is indicated in this question of a Tennessee reader, about the effect of prayer:—
“If you think it is of sufficient importance, I should like to have your opinion on the following: Do we propose to change the mind of the Lord respecting his creatures? and, if not, why pray at all? The Lord is said to be immutable. I have had a great deal of thought on this, and I wait to hear in ‘Notes on Open Letters.’”
No, we do not expect to change the mind of the Lord; nor do we want to change it. The Lord's mind is announced in his word, as being set on giving certain things to his creatures, and on doing certain things for his creatures, when those things are prayed for in faith. To neglect to pray under such circumstances, is to decline to seek the things conditionally promised to us. To pray for those things is to evidence our desire for the promised blessings, and our confidence in the unchangeableness of God, who has promised them to those who ask them in faith, and who will not fail to do as he has promised. When the Lord says, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” it is for the man to open his mouth wide, as a condition to the Lord's filling that mouth. Does the man expect to change the mind of the Lord by this mouth-opening? On the contrary, man's mouth-opening is so far a proof of his confidence in God's immutability in mouth filling. So also, when the Lord says: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you,” it is for a man to show his confidence in God's unchangeableness by asking, seeking, knocking in prayer, in order that God may give to him as he has promised to give.—S. S. Times.