Ver. 14.-" The wondrous worlcs of God." I. THE NATURE OJ' THESE wonKs. 1 Material things, We cannot live for ever in a realm of ideas. It is well to come dow~ to the solid oarth nnd loolt at physical facts. There are lessons to be learnt from the stones ond trees and Ii ving creatures of r.ature. Mountain anrl strearr., forest and flower, speak to the soul of man. 2. Oreated things. " Works." These things were made. 'l'hey are not eternal; they are manufactured articles. They are not chance products of chnos ; they have been designedly made. 3. Divine things. The glory of them is their Maker. God has condescended to put his hand to this earth of ours, and the result has been all the life and beauty with which it abounds. The character of tho Makor is impressed on his work. God owns what he has made. Therefore his works belong to him. They are but lent to us. We are stewards who will have to give an account of all that we use and of how we use it. 4. Wonderful things. God's works are" wondrous." They are stamped with the impress of thought. The most advanced science is but man's blundering attempt to spell out God's hieroglyphics written in the great book of nature, The very difficulties of nature spring from its va.st complexity. The Architect of the universe is an infinite Artist, Mathematician, Physiologist. II. How THESE WONDROUS WOBKS SHOULD BE REGARDED. 1. With attention. "Hearken unto this." The sin of the world distracts our thoughts, so that we fail to perceive .what God is saying to us through the many voices of nature. We miss the voices of God iu nature and life through heedless indifference. 2. With patience. "Stand still." We hurry to and fro, and so fail to gather the treasures that come to him who waits. The \ife of rushing haste is superficial. The best things do not come at a call, nor can they be snatched up in a moment. We must" wait on the Lord" if we would have his blessing, and "be still" if we would know that he is God (Ps. xlvi. 10). Thus hearkening and standing still, we are to wait for God to speak to us through his works. We talk too much about the works of God; it would be better if we would be silent and let them speak to us, 3. With thought. "And consider." Note the "and." Attention and patience should precede and prepare the way for the consideration. But then this must follow and be joined on to the earlier pa.ssi ve .conditions. We must not be still in mental indolence. When God speaks to us through his wondrous works, our part is to receive his message intelligeutly and think over it. The study of nature in science is commended to us. But we need to rise above this, to meditate _over the Divine voices in nature and in all the works of God. -W.F.A. . Ver. 19.-The prayer for prayer. Seeing Jesus in prayer, and noticing how different his prayer was from theirs, the disciples be11ought him to teach them to pray (Luka xi. 1). Their request implied a high estimation of true prayer, and at the same time a deep sense of their own inability to pray aright. The same feelings are expressed to us by Elihu. I. WHAT IS BEQUIRED m TRUE PBAYER. The greatness of God suggests to Elihu the importance of speaking to God in the right way. The vastness and splendour of the heavens, as well as the majesty of the thunder and the government of the cloud, impress us with the majesty of God; and yet his greatest glory is not seen in these phenomena, but it is revealed in his moral rule and his fatherly goodness. It would be a foolish thing for us to shrink from approaching God on account of his majesty in the physical universe. He is not like a stately monarch who surrounds himself with the ceremony·of a court. Formal manners are an abomination in prayer. God does not look for the courtier's obsequiousness; he seeks the child's confidence. At the same time, his kingly state is crowned by holiness, ,ve have to approach him in awe of his purity. He dwells in light eternal. This fact, much more than his power and wide sway over the physical universe, calls for a deeply reverent spirit in prayer. 'l'hen the spiritual nature of God requires spiritual worship, and we must be true in heart if we would pray acceptably. II. THE DI.Fll'IOULTY OF ATTAINING TO TRUE PRAYER. Elihu and the disciples of Christ both felt this difficulty. Job's friend gives the cause of it-" for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness." 1. lgnoranetJ. We do not know what God wills; 11or do Wll kqow our own hearts. Not only is tbe spiritu~ realm strange to us; (t06 THE BOOK OF JOB. [OH, llXXVII, 1-M, '; ')
we even need to know whe.t e.re our needs, 2. Sin. Thie is the darkness that really bindem nnd rnins pl'l\yer. The fnther Is not vexed at his chlld'a belt,lees pratr.le wben the child l! loving and obedient. He does not look for polnpoua !Jhr&sesi he pretere the m1tural, simple outpouring of the child's hear't. But he is grio'\·ed at dupllolty lnein~ cerity, unreality. When our hearts are far from God we cannot pray &coept~bly to him. The greRt difficulty is wan·t of sympathy with God; wil:nt of sympl\thy Is the one hindrance t-0 all human intercourse, and it is the one thing that p~'vents us from prnying acccptRbly. • III. TRE WAY TO REA.OR TRUl!: PBAYl!:B. This is by prnyer. We must pray to be taught to prny. 'l:he confession of onr inability to pray is the fil'!!t step towards doing ~o !\cccptably. Pnde and self-sufficiency keep us hack from the right spirit of prayer. 'We have to learn to bow our wills as well as to bend our knees. But the prl\yer i:o be taught this lesson may be answered in untexpected ways. We may lellrn what we should say to God in a school of adversity. Bumbled and subdued by sorrow, we may be brought down to the right spirit of prayer in the experience from which we shrink ~ith dismay. Or perhaps the lesson may come through more directly spiritual influences. We need to contemplate the character of God in order to pray to him aright. The revelation of God in Christ shows us how we should approach God. When we see Jesus we learn how t.o pray.-W. F. A. • •