Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
November 3
Morning
"Behold,
he prayeth."—Acts 9:11.
Prayers are
instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul began to pray the Lord heard him.
Here is comfort for the distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor
broken-hearted one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the
language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the harps of heaven
thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and treasured in the
lachrymatory of heaven. "Thou puttest my tears
into thy bottle," implies that they are caught as they flow. The
suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be well understood by the Most
High. He may only look up with misty eye; but
"prayer is the falling of a tear." Tears are the diamonds of heaven;
sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's court, and are numbered with
"the sublimest strains that reach the majesty on
high." Think not that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob's ladder is lofty, but our prayers shall
lean upon the Angel of the covenant and so climb its starry rounds. Our God not
only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. "He forgetteth not the cry of the humble." True, He
regards not high looks and lofty words; He cares not for the pomp and pageantry
of kings; He listens not to the swell of martial music; He regards not the
triumph and pride of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a
lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, the heart of
Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry of His memory; He puts our
prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance, and
when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance
springing up therefrom.
"Faith asks no signal from the skies,
To show that prayers accepted rise,
Our Priest is in His holy place,
And answers from the throne
of grace."
Evening
"Their
prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven."—2 Chronicles 30:27.
Prayer is the never-failing
resort of the Christian in any case, in every plight. When you cannot use your
sword you may take to the weapon of all-prayer. Your powder may be damp, your bow-string may be relaxed, but the weapon of all-prayer need
never be out of order. Leviathan laughs at the javelin, but he trembles at
prayer. Sword and spear need furbishing, but prayer never rusts, and when we
think it most blunt it cuts the best. Prayer is an open door which none can
shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open,
and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy's
hand. We can never be taken by blockade, escalade, mine, or storm, so long as
heavenly succours can come down to us by Jacob's
ladder to relieve us in the time of our necessities. Prayer is never out of
season: in summer and in winter its merchandize is precious. Prayer gains
audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the
heat of noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether of
poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt, your covenant God
will welcome your prayer and answer it from His holy place. Nor is prayer ever futile.
True prayer is evermore true power. You may not always
get what you ask, but you shall always have your real wants supplied. When God
does not answer His children according to the letter, He does so according to
the spirit. If thou askest for
coarse meal, wilt thou be angered because He gives thee the finest flour?
If thou seekest bodily health, shouldst
thou complain if instead thereof He makes thy sickness turn to the healing of
spiritual maladies? Is it not better to have the cross
sanctified than removed? This evening, my soul, forget not to offer thy
petition and request, for the Lord is ready to grant thee thy desires.