28. Besides, God has reserved to himself the liberty of accomplishing our desires either in this world, or the next, as he shall deem most proper. Wherefore if thou dost not receive the blessings for which thou prayest, consider that it is not good for thee to enjoy them here, but that the answer to thy prayers is reserved for the other life, which is more noble and durable, and more capable of pure enjoyments than this. There the Lord will bestow on thee a thousandfold, for all that He seemed to deny thee here. As He cannot forget our prayers, so He cannot fail to answer them graciously; if not in this life, yet certainly in that which is to come. As many prayers as thou offerest up here, so many blessings shalt thou receive hereafter; for then “we shall reap if we faint not.” Gal. 6:9. Then will the Lord say to the believing soul, “Behold thy prayer which thou offeredst to me. See, here is that for which thou didst pray, and a thousand times more than thou didst desire.” And for this time of retribution we must patiently wait.
29. That man would be a very foolish husbandman, who would expect to reap as soon as he had sown; and who, when he had done this, would cry out with tears, that he had sown much seed, but could see no sign of harvest. Thou fool! wait till the season of harvest arrives, and then thou shalt receive the fruits of thy labor with a blessed increase. These are the complaints which many people make: “I have prayed,” says one, “so often; I have so often sighed from the bottom of my soul; but I see no prospect of being heard, so that all my prayers, and sighs, and tears, are in vain.” Ah, impatient soul! Thou hast scarcely sowed, and dost thou already talk of harvest? Wait for the precious harvest of eternal life, and thou shalt reap an abundant crop of glory! “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. There thou shalt gather with joy the fruit of the numerous prayers, which, as so many precious seeds, thou hast sown in tears. Psalm 126:5. This is the word and promise of God, which shall certainly be fulfilled, either here or in the other world. Thus, when thou art taking thy last sad farewell of a dying child, husband, wife, or friend, thou must consider that this is the season in which the bodies of thy friends, and thine own also, are, as it were, to be sown and committed to the earth; but that the harvest of the resurrection is at hand, when “the angels, the reapers, shall gather the sheaves, and put them into barns.” Matt. 13:30, 39. There we shall find that our prayers, sighs, and tears were not lost, but only sent beforehand, to be received again with usury, finding all things in God that ever our souls could conceive or desire. So the promises of God, and the arguments produced to sustain them, shall stand firm and unshaken in Christ Jesus, to be eternally fulfilled to all believing souls, to their everlasting joy and salvation, for which we shall render eternal thanks and praises to God.
Chapter XXXVIII.
Seven Helps Or Aids For Our Infirmities In Prayer.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.—Rom. 8:26, 27.
Since our prayers are, alas! very weak and imperfect, let us see what assistance God has given us in his holy word, in order to help us in that duty.
2. The first help is our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 1 John 2:2. He is our advocate, and pleads our cause before God, when we are hardly able to express what we want. He is therefore called the Logos, or the eternal Word of the Father, because God by him has discovered his will to us; as He is also called the Mediator, because He pleads our cause before God. A type of Him we have in Moses, the mediator of the Old Testament; to whom the people, flying from the face of God in Mount Sinai, said, “Speak thou with us” (Exod. 20:19). And when Moses complained that he was slow of speech, and of a slow tongue, when he was commanded to appear before Pharaoh; God tells him, “Aaron, thy brother, can speak well. He shall be to thee instead of a mouth.” Exod. 4:10, 14, 16. So we also, when we should pray, are dull and slow of speech, and therefore we must fly to Christ, our heavenly Aaron, who is to us instead of a mouth. The same thing is expressed to us by the mercy-seat. Exod. 25:17, 21. Therefore Christ commands us to pray in his name (John 16:23), who is our eternal High Priest, having an everlasting priesthood (Heb. 7:16), interceding for us (Rom. 8:34), “in whom we have boldness, and access with confidence by the faith of him.” Eph. 3:12.
3. The second help is God the Holy Ghost. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of supplication.” Zech. 12:10. This spirit is given us as a testimony of the divine grace, and of our adoption. Hence St. John says, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” 1 John 4:13. And St. Paul, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Rom. 8:15, 16. He was also typified by the anointing of the priests under the law. Exod. 28:41; 29:7. Thus God has anointed us with the Spirit of Christ (1 John 2:20); that we should offer to him daily the fruit of our lips. Ps. 69:30, 31; Heb. 13:15. This Spirit of God is the author of all those devout aspirations which we meet with, such as: “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do.” Dan. 9:19.