MEN WHO PRAYED HENRY W. FROST 7 5 { f ‘ | | | Gornell University Library Sthara, Nem York CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 MEN WHO PRAYED Being familiar, heart-to-heart talks with the reader concerning the hives of the Old Testament saints who offered prayer to Jehovah BY HENRY W. FROST WITH A FOREWORD BY CHARLES GALLAUDET TRUMBULL GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE D. T. BASS, MGR. BrstE Scuoot Parx, New Yorr CHINA INLAND MISSION PuiLapEevpuia, Pa, Toronto, Ont. Copyright, 1914, by The Gospel Publishing House A FOREWORD One who has been for twenty-five years entrusted with the stewardship of directing the affairs of the China Inland Mission in the North American home field, as Mr. Frost has, has had occasion to learn much about God’s faithfulness. And, as he once pointed out to the writer, Mr. Frost has come to count God’s faithfulness as far more dependable and important than man’s faith. From the riches which he has found God is ready to lavish upon those who commit themselves to him in prayer, the author of this book brings some of his best treasures for the devotional life of those who would travel with him day by day in a prayer excursion through the Old Testament. That these prayer studies are rewarding will be testified to by the many who have already had access to them in the pages of ‘‘Daily Bible,’’ the magazine of The World’s Morning Watch. Still others have been put under obligation to Mr. Frost through his wise and searching discussions of problems of the prayer life in the columns of The Sunday School Times. Thus his name and the privileges of prayer have come to be associated together with special reason. One may be prepared for surprises in following these meditations. That Lord who says, ‘‘Behold, I make all things new,’’ can enable one whose life is made ever new by him to reveal new things to others. And this is one of the charms of the book. Over and over again, from the opening passage in the third chapter of Genesis which reveals a prayer where the average reader would see none, on through the ex- 1lL iv A FOREWORD perience of abandoned Hagar and her babe in the wilderness when we are shown that it was the babe’s prayer, not the discouraged mother’s, that God heard, and again when a two-word prayer of Abraham’s at the climax of the supreme test of his life shows us the greatness of the man of faith, these prayer studies bring us into a recurring challenge of the un- expected, and show us how little we know of both the Bible and prayer. The book reveals the peril of answered prayer, the folly of praying small, the variety of God’s ways of answering prayer, our unceasing need of prayer, the cure for fear. It satisfies by declining to attempt to explain all mysteries. It encourages the faint- hearted in prayer as it assures us that we shall ‘‘one day stand awed before the discovery that not a prayer of ours for the righting of the wrong has been lost.’’ It invites to patient endurance in prayer, reminding us that the crown is not always given on the same day as the cross. There are rich wayside lessons on the wonders of the grace of God. Our need of continued learning is urged in the reminder that ‘‘all the godly men who have ever lived have sought to make what learning they have obtained the means of obtaining more learning.’’ The lesson that Elijah, as a man of prayer, was the man for the hour, is over- topped by the lesson that, above all, there was a God for the hour; and that our God is always such. And that the man who prays must sooner or later become a man who sings is brought to us in the experience of the ‘‘uneloquent’’ Moses. The love of poetry which has made itself prominent in Mr. Frost’s life comes out here —for many have had occasion to be grateful to him for his own consecrated gift of song. It is good that the reader is not allowed to finish the book without a vision of ‘‘the final victory of the Christ upon this earth,’’ when our Lord shall return A FOREWORD v and ‘‘make this world what it ought to have been from first to last.’’ The book is more than a study of prayer; it is a study also of men who prayed, and men of vastly dif- ferent types, so that we can all find our encourage- ment and guidance in these pages. But it is pre- eminently a discovering to us of the riches of our privilege in prayer. The message of the whole is that ‘‘prayer turns trembling saints into great vic- tors.’’ How thankful we may be that God gives us, through such a book as this, his own invitation to take up a lasting abode in the faith roll of victors! CHARLES GALLAUDET TRUMBULL. MEN WHO PRAYED MEN WHO PRAYED Prayer is the most potential thing in the world. It is not that prayer is anything, but rather that God is everything. For prayer lays hold on God, or, more accurately, permits God to lay hold on man, so that it brings God into human affairs as the Infinite One. And when the Almighty is in the midst of things he proves himself to be the invincible, all-conquering God. So then the man who prays is the most potential man in the world. It is not that man is anything, but rather that God is everything. For the man who prays puts himself in his true place as a suppliant, and God in his true place as the Benignant and Benef- icent One. And when God’s grace is thus set free it flows earthward in floods of blessing so that the desert places of life are made to rejoice and blossom as the rose. What we need then in this world is prayer. And what is necessary to obtain prayer is to secure men who will pray. Not men who will think about prayer, or will talk about prayer, or will purpose some time or other to take time for prayer, but who will now and continually pray. Theorizing and good intentions do not move the arm that moves the world. What does this is nothing else or less than sacrificial prayer. ‘“‘This kind goeth not out save by prayer and fast- ing!’’ ; 2 MEN WHO PRAYED But the best way to learn how to pray—aside from praying—is to contemplate the lives of those who have prayed. If the Apostles had watched and lis- tened to Jesus when he was praying there would have been less need for them to come to him with the pe- tition: ‘‘Teach us to pray.’’ And, no doubt, Timothy and Titus learned most from Paul about prayer, not from his epistles, but from his life and practice. To see and hear a man pray is to have the lesson of prayer reduced to its utmost simplicity, and, at the same time, to have its effect raised to its highest power. We ourselves do best when we have the vision of others doing their best. This is the potency of personal ex- ample and influence. So it is our purpose to meditate upon prayer. But we are going to do this by meditating upon the lives of those who have prayed. Passing chronologically through the record of the Old Testament, it will be our sacred privilege to gaze upon this and that saint as he is upon his knees before Jehovah, to look into his upturned face and to listen to his out-poured peti- tions. And in this secret place, and holy exercise, even while we seek to learn how to pray, may we too bend the knees in prayer—and pray! Adam. Genesis 3: 8-18. 8. And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walk- ing in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not cat? 12. And the man said, The woman whom MEN WHO PRAYED 3 thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. This is the first passage in Holy Scripture which records a prayer. For the words of Adam and Eve in the above verses amount to this. It is the kind of prayer which lost souls may utter, namely, a cry, and in its lowest form, namely, confession. Adam and Eve had prayed before this, for prayer is com- munion with God, and it is evident before the fall that this was a frequent experience with them. But now, they have disobeyed, having eaten the forbid- den fruit, and when Jehovah—Jesus in angelic form —comes into the garden in the ‘‘cool of the day,’’ seeking for his usual intercourse of fellowship and love, they flee from his holy presence and have no communion to give. But Jehovah’s love was one that would not let them go, and the divine voice called his shrinking creatures to his side. There, he drew from them the whole sad story of their sin and shame. This was in grace. And the answers, for the most part, were honestly given. Thus the way was opened for God to pronounce in their hearing that wondrous promise concerning the Seed, (verse 15; Galatians, 3:16), who was to bring redemption by bruising the serpent’s head. Moreover, Adam and Eve believed. Thereupon Jehovah, having shed the blood of presumably, two lambs, took their skins and clothed his children with them. Adam and Eve, therefore, though they brought ruin upon the human race, were forgiven their sin, and are among the re- deemed. And all this came to pass, through stand- ing in the presence of Jehovah, and making a clean breast of sin. Confession is not pleasant to any one. But it is the best way, for it is the only pathway to 4 MEN WHO PRAYED pardon and blessing. Where any soul ever honestly confesses sin, God openly and forever forgives sin; (I John, 1:9). Abel. Genesis 4:1-7. 1. And the man knew Eve his wife; and she con- cewed, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. 2. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. 4, And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abcl and to his offering: 5 but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6. And Je- hovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thow shalt rule over him. This story of Cain and Abel records man’s first act of believing worship outside of the Garden of Eden. It does not give us any words of prayer in connection with the worship offered. But it describes the act of worship, and this in itself is prayer. Adam and Eve had been instructed by God to worship him through a slain lamb, and then without doubt, they had instructed their sons to offer their worship in the same manner. So it was that these two sons came into the presence of God for worship, the younger with a slain lamb, and the elder with no lamb but with the fruit of the ground. And God ac- cepted the one. But he rejected the other. For the slain lamb signified to God acknowledged sin and the MEN WHO PRAYED 3 merits of the Christ who was to come, while the fruit represented unacknowledged sin and pretended self- righteousness. But note the long-suffering grace of Jehovah. Cain had evidently turned from the altar to his home, angry of heart and with his countenance fallen. Nevertheless Jehovah follows him there, points out a lamb—the word ‘‘sin’’ means sin-offer- ing—which was crouching at his hut door and tells him that the lamb’s desire shall be unto him and that he shall rule over him. Cain, therefore, had a second chance. But as the outcome shows, he re- jected this extended mercy. He refused to shed the blood of the lamb; and so it was that he ended by shedding the blood of his brother. Abel, on the con- trary, continued to walk in fellowship with God; and later he had the high privilege of becoming the first martyr. Such are the differences of worship in at- titude and outcome. Abram. Genesis 15:1-7. 1. After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2. And Abram said O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thow give me, secing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: (and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir). 4. And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine her. 5, And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6. And he believed in Jeho- vah: and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. 7. And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought 6 MEN WHO PRAYED thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. In this passage we have the first record, subsequent to the fall, of intercommunion between God and a worshipper with the intercommunion expressed in words. The two speakers were Jehovah and Abram, and the intercourse was intimate in nature and far- reaching in consequence. And it is interesting to note that God began the conversation, answering Abram’s thoughts rather than his words, and draw- ing out from him thus the expression of his heart sorrow and longing. Abram had given up much for God; (12:4). But it seemed to him as if Jehovah had taken little account of this, for he had failed to give him that which alone could satisfy his life, namely, a child and heir. And hence, on Abram’s part, a bowed head, and a fearful heart! It was just then that Jehovah spoke, and drew out from Abram his prayerful petition: ‘‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.’’ And then he added: ‘‘He that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.’? Thereupon Jeho- vah brought Abram out into the field and pointed to the stars saying: ‘‘So shall thy seed be!’’ And Abram believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So in due time, the man of prayer and faith saw his child and heir. And he named him Isaac, which means, laughter. How encouraging all this is. God does not need to wait until we put our heart-desires into words; he knows our thoughts afar off. Also, God takes the initiative in prayer, draw- ing out into expression our heart-longings, in order that he may make them the occasion of answering our petitions. And, finally, he answers us beyond our highest expectations, for when we ask for one thing he gives us that thing and a host of things be- MEN WHO PRAYED 7 sides; and when we finally behold these, they are like the stars, not only in number, but also in beauty and glory. Genesis 17: 15-18. 15. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16. And I will bless her, and more- over I will give thee a son of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her. 17. Then Abraham fell upon has face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be borne unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that 1s ninety years old, bear? 18. And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee! Men had found that it was well to pray, since God was quick to answer, and such saints as Abram be- came bolder and bolder in prayer, as their lives lengthened out. But men then, as since, made mis- takes in praying, asking for little when they might have asked for much, or asking for the wrong thing when they ought to have asked for the right thing. In the present instance, Abram made a serious mis- take. It was a case of reaping, even in prayer, what he had sown. For his faith had failed through long waiting, and he had gotten a child before the ap- pointed time by a miserable trick; (16:1-4). It was all unworthy of the one who had believed the promise of God. So when God gently but firmly insisted upon his own way, in order that the promised bless- ing might be given to Abraham and to his seed for- ever, all that Abram could do was to ery out: ‘‘O, that Ishmael might live before thee!’’ And God answered the prayer; (verse 20). Ishmael did live. But what has been the result? The Ishmaelites, that 8 MEN WHO PRAYED is, the Arabians; and then Mohammedanism, and then a scourge of fire and blood in Asia and Europe. And as Ishmael mocked Isaac upon the day of his wean- ing, (21:8, 9), so Mohammedanism has mocke’ Chris- tianity ever since, it being the stoutest, bitterest foe it has. So then, it is a solemn thing to become im- patient with God, and to try to obtain a coveted bless- ing in some other time and way than the one ap- pointed. God will often grant an answer, under such conditions. But the answer will be more in judg- ment than in blessing. That is a terrible word in Psalms 106:15: ‘‘He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.’’ Beware of such an ex- perience ! Genesis 18: 27-33. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes: 28 peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not de- stroy wt, if I find there forty and five. 29. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty’s sake. 30. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: perad- venture there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31. And he said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: pceraducnture there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake. 32. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: per- adventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake. 33. And Je- hovah went his way, as soon as he had left comm uning with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. MEN WHO PRAYED 9 Abram is now over one hundred years old. He has had his name changed from Abram—which means a high fat’