THE QUIET HOUR

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 2 March 1935, Page 14

THE QUIET HOUR

CONTRIBUTED BY REV. BASIL METSON

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS.

“Ask, add ye shall receive, that your jov may be full.” Jesus. (John 16:24). ‘

“The Child in its morning beauty, The sage bowed down with time, TEe King in his royal raiment, The outcast clothed in crime, Prayer is the stairway to heaven And whoever will may climb.” Jesus seems to present the matter of prayer in the nature of a very direct and pointed command. Someone has said that the word “ought” is the mightiest word in the English language. There is nothing that ought to Aveigh so heavily on the soul of man as the things he ought to do. What I ought to do is the only thing that concerns me, not what people may say. All this applies very properly to prayer. We ought to pray

IN SPITE' OF ALL THE TONGUES

tliat may talk, in spite of the foolish who may laugh, in spite of all the hostility an evil world may bring against us. The “ought” that prompts our prayer should he like the hunger of our bodies for food, a craving which gives us neither rest nor quiet until we haA r e satisfied it.

WHY OUGHT PEOPLE TO PRAY?

Firstly, for their own sakes. God is pleased with, but, strictly speaking, God does not need men’s prayers. There are none of the lights of Heaven that will go out if we do not pray. God is served by man, hut He is not ruled by him. God’s sun will still shine and the seasons will still come and go even though men do forget and fail in this vital matter. God is mighty, but men are weak. How prone we are to sickness and sorroAv. “There is no home without its hush.” “Never morning wore to evening but some heart did break.” We all need Divine guidance and help, and for that reason we should work the spiritual wireless, spreading out our intimate affairs before the Father as King Hezekiah did.

Again avo ought to pray because prayer is

A PATHWAY TO SPIRITUAL

CERTAINTY

How shall Ave come to know God? How shall we he convinced of the larger, fuller life that is to he after death ? Reading and argument are good, but these do not wholly satisfy. If God 1 is Spirit, is not prayer both the logical and natural approach to Him. And is it not all the more to be recommended because Jesus, who knew God so well, Himself urged it as the means of • meeting our need. I like that

rhyme: “Prayer is the stairway to Heaven And whoever will may climb.” We do well, in this world-of doubt and sorrow, to rest our souls upon the meaning of those words. “And A\-hoever will may climb.” Prayer is our approach to the tender heart of God, our means of finding and knowing him. You may be like the outcast, sad and pitiful. Men may have robbed you of all earthly hope. They may have brought you A r ery loAv. They cannot take one thing away, the privilege of prayer, your ability to draw near to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Rest your soul upon the promise contained in those words —‘ 'whoever will.” Cling to the truth in them. Some day your confidence will be rewarded and* God Avill bring you out of the darkness into the clear light of jov. . . We ought to pray because it brings us into peace

IN'SPITE OF THE WORLD’S

CONFUSION- AND TUMULT.

“What, cannot he cured must he ehdured,” is a philosophy. Rut there is a better philosophy by which the inevitable may he met. Let- men and women pray.. “Prayer changes things.” Prayer may not be magic •medicine .to pure all. ills. It may not stav tlie heavy hand •of sorrow or death. It will, however, do something better. It will furnish us with needful strength to bear whatever burden is imposed; it will lead us into richer discoveries of Divine grace, it will tell us that He is near, working out all things for our good. We live in a restless, hurrying age. Tired nerves, tire bodies, tired hearts. How. shall we find rest ?

HERB IS A GOOD RECIPE. Let us cultivate the practice of prayer, twenty, ten’ or even five minutes every day. Let us think of God. Let us ask about His purpose for us. Let us learn of and lean hard upon Him. This will help. His promise is not vain—“ Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” “Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” Thomas a’ Kempis buttresses well our appeal: “Leave vain things to the vain. Be thou intent upon the things of God. Shut thy door, stay within thy room, for thou shalt find peace there and peace not to be found elsewhere.”

SOMEONE HAD, PRAYED. The weary ones had rest, the sad had joy That day; I wondered “how!’ A ploughman, singing at his work, had •prayed, “Lord, help them now!” Awav in foreign lands they wondered “how”

Their single word had power! At home the Christians, two or three, had met, To pray an hour! _ Yes, we are always wondering, wondering “how,” Because we do not see . Someone, unknown perhaps, and far away, On bended knee!”