Thus saith the Lord God;
I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.
Ezekiel 36:37
Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history, and
you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world
unheralded by supplication. You have found this true in your own
personal experience. God has given you many an unsolicited favour,
but still great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy
with you. When you first found peace through the blood of the cross,
you had been praying much, and earnestly interceding with God that He
would remove your doubts, and deliver you from your distresses. Your
assurance was the result of prayer. When at any time you have had
high and rapturous joys, you have been obliged to look upon them as
answers to your prayers. When you have had great deliverances out of
sore troubles, and mighty helps in great dangers, you have been able
to say, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from
all my fears." Prayer is always the preface to blessing. It goes
before the blessing as the blessing's shadow. When the sunlight of
God's mercies rises upon our necessities, it casts the shadow of
prayer far down upon the plain. Or, to use another illustration, when
God piles up a hill of mercies, He Himself shines behind them, and He
casts on our spirits the shadow of prayer, so that we may rest
certain, if we are much in prayer, our pleadings are the shadows of
mercy. Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the
value of it. If we had the blessings without asking for them, we
should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies more
precious than diamonds. The things we ask for are precious, but we do
not realize their preciousness until we have sought for them
earnestly.
"Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw;
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love;
Brings every blessing from above."
