(2) The second advantage is a direct answer to prayer. In response to our request God sends us spiritual forces, for He is aware we may fall before the allurements of sin. He who walks the highway of righteousness must have Divine support. Spiritual leaders insist that too great stress cannot be placed on prayer during severe strain. Nevertheless, many who succeed in business ventures by their own ability con- sider themselves able to face any proposition ; therefore they eliminate God and confront temptation alone. No greater mistake is possible.
Have you and I to-day Stood silent as with Christ, apart from joy, or fray of life,
to see His face ; To look, if but a moment, in its grace. And grow, by brief companionship, more true, More nerved to lead, to dare, to do For Him at any cost ? Have we to-day Found time, in thought, our hand to lay In His, and thus compare His wiU with ours, and wear The impress of His wish? Be sure Such contact will endure Throughout the day ; will help us walk erect Through storm and flood ; detect Within the hidden life sin's dross, its stain; Revive a thought of love for Him again; Steady the steps which waver ; help us see The footpath meant for you and me.
ST. MARK 449
2. We need to cultivate the habit of praying, with special reference to temptation. It is not enough that we pray when the agony of strife is upon us ; we should make our special weakness the subject of constant confession and prayer. No one is so secure as he who knows his frailty, and brings it often before God in earnest petition. The lips that are most accustomed thus to pray will most quickly find utterance for the urgent cry that marks the crisis of moral struggle.
3. But prayer is more than petition ; it is also communion and companionship with the Divine. It promotes familiar companionship with Christ, and this shuts out evil. Temptation has no prevailing power with him who makes every day of life a humble yet friendly walk with his God.
*[| Eegarding prayer not so much as consisting of particular acts of devotion, but as the spirit of life, it seems to be the spirit of harmony with the will of God. It is the aspiration after all good, the wish, stronger than any earthly passion or desire, to live in His service only. It is the temper of mind which says in the evening, " Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit " ; which rises up in the morning " To do Thy will, 0 God " ; and which all the day regards the actions of business and of daily life as done unto the Lord and not to men, — " Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God." The trivial employ- ments, the meanest or lowest occupations, may receive a kind of dignity when thus converted into the service of God. Other men live for the most part in dependence on the opinion of their fellow-men; they are the creatures of their own interests, they hardly see anything clearly in the mists of their own self- deceptions. But he whose mind is resting in God rises above the petty aims and interests of men ; he desires only to fulfil the Divine Will, he wishes only to know the truth. His "eye is single," in the language of Scripture, and his whole body is full of light. The light of truth and disinterestedness flows into his soul ; the presence of God, like the sun in the heavens, warms his heart. Such a one, whom I have imperfectly described, may be no mystic; he may be one among us whom we know not, un- distinguished by any outward mark from his fellow-men, yet carrying within him a hidden source of truth and strength and peace.^
* Benjamin Jowett.
ST. MARK — 29
450 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
IV.
Watch and Pray.
We are commanded both to watch and to pray. And there are some people who believe in doing one thing, but not the other. They believe in watching, but not in praying. These are so-called men of the world. They go to business every day, and are very keen in dealing with others. They are always on their guard against being taken in, and pride themselves on their watchfulness. When they retire at night, I have no doubt that they rejoice over the fact that no one has been able to take them in, and sometimes, I fear, they pride themselves in having watched their opportunity and taken somebody else in. There are many who believe in watching in that sense.
Then there are those who believe in praying, but not watching. They do not believe in being on the alert, and thus using the power of watchfulness which God has given them ; but they can pray by the hour. Now, our Lord would have these two things united, " Watch and pray." There is, no doubt, much need of watchfulness in life, for there are dangers on every hand, and if there is need of watchfulness in daily life, there is still more need of it with regard to our spiritual life.^