We can think of God's promise to be a certified
check made payable to us the moment we present it for payment. No matter what
gracious spiritual and temporal blessings the promise contains, we cannot
receive them until we make our requests known unto God in prayer. It is
possible to have an all sufficiency in all things by claiming the riches of God
made available to us by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. When Paul
said, "My God shall supply all your need," he is saying, "Christ is all you
need." We are enriched in all things pertaining to life in time and in eternity
when we possess Him. Christ is all we ever need to cope with the difficulties
and dangers confronting us in the path leading to the Father's house of many
mansions.
The temporal blessings received from the Lord are
not sufficient to supply all our need in this world. Jesus stated this fact
when He said,
"...A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he
possesseth." -- Luke 12:15
The fertile fields cannot produce true riches. A man is truly rich toward God
when he possesses the resources of Christ contained in His certified promise to
supply all our need. When Paul said, "My God..." he disclosed the amazing fact
that a man can possess God. It is written in the covenant of grace,
"...I will be their God, and they shall be my people." -- 2 Cor. 6:16.
The paramount purpose of Christ is achieved the
moment He gives Himself to us in the covenant of God. The Scriptures reveal
that the Saviour has given everything to redeem us, and provided everything to
supply us, and wills to give all that He is in His divine nature to satisfy us.
If a man has not received the indwelling Christ in answer to prayer, he has
failed to obtain the grand objective of all praying.
We do not find it difficult to make our requests
known unto God when we are fully aware of His presence. Paul stated this fact
when he said,
"...The Lord is at hand." -- v.5
This amazing revelation is evidently an essential part of the admonition to
make our requests known unto God. The inspired apostle focused attention on a
great truth when he said, "...The Lord is at hand." He is saying in substance,
"The Lord is handy. The Lord stands ready to give aid and comfort to His
praying people." No matter how we interpret the statement, "...The Lord is at
hand," we are fully aware of His nearness when we make our requests known unto
Him. Jesus confirmed this truth when He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world." He evidently knew that we had the mental and moral
capacity to sense His presence at all times and in all places on earth. If we
cannot know that He is at hand when we pray, then His promise has no place of
value in our profession of faith.
To offer a prayer without realizing the nearness
of the Lord would be like speaking meaningless words into empty space. How
could we know that our requests had been made known unto God unless He
responded by assuring us that our petitions had been heard? I am persuaded that
it is not possible to pray with confidence toward the Lord without being aware
of His presence. The inspired apostle said,
"...This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
-- 1 John 5:14,15
John is saying in substance, "If you know that God hears you, then you know you
have the answer." It is apparent that we must first know that He hears us
before we know that we have the answer. Knowing that God hears us when we pray
is something vastly more than a beautiful theory about prayer. Spiritual
perception in prayer is the norm of spiritual life. We rejoice in prayer when
we perceive that the Lord is at hand. Paul said, "Rejoice in the Lord always:
and again I say, rejoice." The realization that the Lord is near is the cause
of constant praise.
If His abiding presence with us in this troubled
world is not the only source of lasting joys, then let us hope that someone
will come to guide our footsteps toward the place of endless happiness. God's
Word reveals that the Lord will direct our weary feet into the path of praise.
"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at
thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." -- Psa. 16:11.
It is apparently true that the measure of our joy
is always in proportion to the measure of our praying. One must pray without
ceasing in order to have joy unspeakable and full of glory. God's praying
people discover that the joy of the Lord is their strength, and His abiding
presence is their shield. Perhaps Paul was in prison when he uttered the
immortal words of praise. The dark and dingy prison was not so carefully
guarded, and its rigid bars so firmly fixed that the Lord was prevented from
entering its dismal confines to give comfort and courage to His suffering
servant.
If Paul had been asked what he had found in the
dank cell to cause him to sound such a note of praise, he would have said,
"...The Lord is at hand." His consoling nearness caused the prisoner to praise,
and His assuring presence inspired the suffering saint to sing. The dreary
confines of a prison cannot stifle the songs of the soul girded with the
gladness of God. The righteous may be incarcerated in dungeons, and the
redeemed fastened in the stocks, but their achieving faith is not fettered, and
their supplications are not shackled. From the inner cell of the common jail
the singing servants of God shook the foundations of the earth, and caused
hardened sinners to seek salvation.
The infirmities of the body may imprison a saint
like the formidable walls of a federal prison; but the afflictions of the flesh
and the trials of life cannot prevent the saints from singing in the shadows
like those that sing in the shining. It is written,
"...He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in
the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright
in heart." -- Psa. 32:11