March 18
CONTINUE UPRIGHT
"The prayer of the upright is his delight" Prov. 15:8
This is as good as a promise, for it declares a present fact, which
will be the same throughout all ages. God takes great pleasure in the
prayers of upright men; He even calls them His delight. Our first
concern is to be upright. Neither bending this way nor that, continue
upright: not crooked with policy, nor prostrate by yielding to evil,
be you upright in strict integrity and straightforwardness. If we
begin to shuffle and shift, we shall be left to shift for ourselves.
If we try crooked ways, we shall find that we cannot pray, and if we
pretend to do so, we shall find our prayers shut out of Heaven.
Are we acting in a straight line and thus following out the Lord's
revealed will? Then let us pray much and pray in faith. If our prayer
is God's delight, let us not stint Him in that which gives Him
pleasure. He does not consider the grammar of it, nor the metaphysics
of it, nor the rhetoric of it; in all these men might despise it. He,
as a Father, takes pleasure in the lispings of His own babes, the
stammerings of His new-born sons and daughters. Should we not delight
in prayer since the Lord delights in it? Let us make errands to the
throne. The Lord finds us enough reasons for prayer, and we ought to
thank Him that it is so.