Psalm 119:145
Veuse 45. — Icried lo’ith my ichole heart. Hear me, 0 Lord; I icill keep thy statutes.
In these words are, —
1. An allegation, “I cried with my whole heart.”
2. A petition, “Hear me.”
3. A promise of obedience,” I will keep thy statutes. ’
First, In the allegation we have a description of prayer, by the two adjuncts of it.
1. Intension and fervency, “I cried.”
2. The sincerity and integrity of it, “With my whole heart.” Secondly, The petition is for audience; only what we translate, “Hear
me,” is in the Hebrew, ’ answer me.’ Now, this being a general, it is uncertain what he prayed for; it may be for deliverance out of trouble; for, in the 146th verse, it is “Save me;” but in the 149th verse it is “Quicken me,” which implieth the vigour of the spiritual life, or grace to keep God’s statutes. Whether for the one or the other, David would be heard.
Thirdly, Here is a promise of obedience, “I will keep thy statutes;” which is mentioned either as the end and scope of his prayer, that I may keep thy statutes; or as a holy vow and promise which the saints are wont to mingle with their prayers, “I will,” kc. He would diligently serve God, if the Lord would hear him.
I. I beijin with the allegation, or description of David’s carriage m prayer. David devoured not his grief, nor nourished his unbelief, but opened his heart unto God, and that in an affectionate manner; he did not call, but cry. Crying noteth vehemency and earnestness, and is opposite to careless formality and deadness. The note from thence is, —
Doctrine. — That there is a holy vehemency and fervour required m prayer.
Here I shall show, —
1. That we may cry.
2. That we must cry.
3. Wherein it cousisteth.
First, We may cry in our afflictions. David doth so for help and relief, and it is not inconsistent with patience for us to do so. For our Lord Jesus had his cries (Heb. v. 7), in the extremity of his sufferings, without any impeachment of his courage and patience. So did Job:” I went mourning without the sun; I stood up, and I cried in the congregation (xxx. 28). It argues we have a sense of our condition, and are under a pincliing necessity, and therefore may complain to God, though not of God. They are sullen, and obstinate, and senseless, that have no feeling, and so no complaint to make, when God lasheth them.
Secondly, We must cry. For, —
1. The Spirit of grace was given for this end: “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom. viii. 15); not say, but cry. He assisteth us by groans: “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom.viu. 26) And such a spirit of prayer should we all labour for, to come to God with affection, and humble and sensible groans, if we cannot come with the pomp of gifts. There is good sense in brokenness of heart, though it be accompanied with brokenness of speech; for God knoweth what a groan meaneth, and will not refuse the work of his Spirit.
2. Because the saints have all done so. Their way of praying is crying: “In my distress I called upon the Lord” (Psalm xviii. 6); “This poor man cried” (Psalm xxxiv. 6); and, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord” (Psalm cxxx. 1); and, “At noon will I pray, and cry aloud” (Psalm Iv. 17); and in many other places. Others can soya prayer, but they cry it out.
3. These cries are heard and answered; as in all the former places, so Psalm xxii, 5, “They cried unto thee, and were delivered;” “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth” (Psalm xxxiv. 17); jSojyew, the word to help, is fi’e ^oi]v ^iiv, to run to the cry. An arrow drawn with full strength will pierce deep.
4. Other prayers are not comely. It doth not become God to whom we pray: dead service doth not become the living God: “Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing; for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Heathen” (Mai. i. 14), Slight dealing in God’s service, argueth mean thoughts of God. It doth not become the Spirit by whom we pray; as in the first reason. Nor doth it become the blessings for which we pray: God will not give mercy till it be valued; if we be indifferent and pray for things of course, without any esteem of them, we bespeak our own denial. Then we undervalue the grace we seek, if we seek it so as if we cared not whether we obtained our request or no; for form’s sake, we must say something. When things are prized, we are earnest, and God will have us earnest, to ask, seek, and knock (Matt. vii. 7). If you have good things, you must do so, and will do so, before you have them. Nor doth it become the state of want wherein you pray; where there is real indigence and felt necessity, it will sharpen’ your aflfections, and put an accent upon your prayers. You will not tell a tale, or a cold story, of your own wants, but cry aloud for help: “I cried by reason of mine alfliction unto the Lord” (Jonah ii. 2). And the saints cry day and night. A true sense of want will sharpen our sluggish desires; the hunger-bitten beggar will not easily be put oflf.
Thirdly, AVherein this crying consisteth.
I. In the earnestness of the affection, not in the loudness of the voice: “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. iv. 6). It is a cry, not of the mouth, but of the heart: it lieth of in the lifting up of the external voice, or the agitation of the bodily spirits; but the serious bent and frame of the spirit; ^fiay/ioTe dXaXrjroig, inward groans, and holy meltings, and breathings of soul after God (Rom. viii. 26). Moses cried after God (Exod. xiv, 15); but we hear of no words which Moses spake. We hear of Israel’s crying, and have an account of their w’ords, hot and full of impatience (verse 10); but not a word that Moses said; yet he cried unto the Lord. Israel was in straits, the Red Sea before, the Egyptians behind. Clamabat pojndus, et non audiebatur; tacehat Moses, et audiebatur, saith Ambrose. Moses’s silence was sooner heard than their cry: our groans and tears have a language which God understands. It is said, that “Hannah spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard” (1 Sam. i. 13). That is the better crying, in sighs and groans, rather than words; as the child that cannot speak, will cry and make moan for the breast. God hath heard the cry of the heart without that of the tongue, but never the cry of the tongue without that of the heart. Quihus arteriis opus est, sijjro sonitu audiamur? What lungs and sides must we have, if the loudness of the voice did it? A dumb beggar gets an ahns at Christ’s gate, if he can but make signs, when his tongue cannot plead for him.
2, This spiritual crying is not the earnestness of carnal affections, that is stirred up by the flesh; but this cry is stirred up by the Spirit, who maketh request Kara Qebv (Rom. viii. 27), God would have work enough to do, if he did answer all men’s prayers: some would set him a task to provide meat for this, others for that, lust. This man prayeth heartily for his pleasures, another for honour, another for preferment, another to satisfy his revenge. A carnal spring may send forth high tides of affection (James iv. 3); but few seek grace to serve God; they would malie God serve with their sins. These are not the groans and breathings of the Spirit, but the eructations and belches of the flesh. Therefore the vehemency of the affection is not only to be regarded, but the regularity; that they be not stirred up by the flesh, but guided by the Spirit.
3. It is not a mere natural fervency. That is the cry of nature after ease, but not the cry of grace after God; and it is but howling in God’s account (Hos. vii. 1 4). The heart is not affected with that which is the true misery, sin, and the wrath of God; nor sincerely engaged to God, from whom they expect help: and then, how instant and earnest soever men be to be rid of their burthen, their prayers are but like the moanings of the beasts under pain, and the howling of dogs, or the gaping of hungry ravens. It is lawful to ask ease; but we must ask in a spiritual manner. It is lawful to pray for temporal blessings, but not in the first place, or with the neglect of better things. Prayer properly is the vent of grace, and the desires of a renewed heart expressed to God (Zech. xii. 10),
Use I. — To reprove most men for their deadness and carelessness in prayer. Prayer is a part of natural worship. All that will acknowdedge God and a providence, will acknowledge a necessity of praying to God, especially in their straits. The Pagan mariners cried, every man to his god, in a tempest (Jonah i. 6). But, though all will pray in one sort or other, yet few pray in good earnest. Some say a prayer; but they do not pray in prayer. Elijah prayed earnestly (James v. 17). Their prayers are conceived in a cold and customary track of devotion. Others flow in words, withotit spirit and life; their tongue is as the pen of a ready wa-iter, but the heart is dead and carelessly affected; for they are indifferent whether they be heard or not. Prayer is, indeed, the work of their invention, but not the expression of their spiritual desire. The mind conceiveth a rational prayer, but the heart is not poured out before God: and so it is discoursing, rather than crying. Words are the outside of prayer; sighs and groans lie nearer the heart, and do better discover the temper of it, and are more regarded by God than all the charms of speech: “The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping” (Psalm vi, 8), Tears have a language which our Father understandeth; a want of affection is more than a defect of words: broken w’ords, with a spiritual aflfection, do more than a well-set speech with unbrokenness of heart. Others have a natural fervency, but not renewed affections; pray from their own interest, or pray passionately for carnal things; “They fell a-lusting, and wept, saying, AVho W’lU give us flesh?” (Num. ii, 4.) They may be importunate for their own ease and welfare: “Give me children, or else I die,” saith passionate Rachel. Natural desires are very passionate; yea, for spiritual things on their own terms; would not a man desire pardon and Heaven, whose heart doth not engage to look after them? Some that are I’enewed, yet are too cold in prayer, do not cry. It is not enough to have the qualification of the person, but the prayer must be qualified also. James v. 16, der](ng tvt(pyHfikvi], it must be a well-wrought prayer, otherwise it availeth not; yea, our earnestness must increase according to the weight and moment of what we pray for. When Peter was in prison, the church made instant and earnest prayer; ^hjcrtc iicTsvt)c (Acts xii. 5), as in the margin it is; and Christ had his eKrtvk’repov (Luke xxii. 44). But now the children of God are conscious to themselves of much deadness and drowsiness, and are so low sometimes that they are not heard, scarce breathe in prayer, so far from crying. But —
What is the reason of this carelessness?
1. Want of sense. They have no feeling of their wants, and therefore pray perfunctorily. The poor in spirit, the mourner, and meek, are put before the desirer (INIatt. v.). Men must be affected with their wants, before they be earnest after a supply. Jesus Christ was sensible of his burden, and therefore he ofiered up supplications with strong crying and tears (Heb. v. 7); and, if man were once sensible of his sins by which his Saviour suffered, he would be fervent in his prayers, and most earnestly deprecate the wrath of God, as his Saviour did. A smart sense of want quickens prayers. If we were always alike affected, as we are in a deep distress, or fears of death, or some notable danger, we should not need many directions to teach us to pray fervently; but, because such a sense is soon worn off”, our prayers grow cold and careless.
2. As they are tongue-tied through sin, and carnal liberty hath brought an indisposition upon them. He that hath wronged another, will not easily repair to him, and crave his help in straits (1 John iii. 20, 21).
3. Want of spiritual desire. Prayer is but the acting of desire; as desire is more or less, so is our cry in prayer. He that asketh remission of his sins, but doth not thirst after it, with an earnest and burning desire, doth but pray for it out of course, and not as it becorneth a creature that hath a sense of God’s anger against sin. He that asketh the mortification of sin, but doth not desire it out of true desire, flowing from the hatred of sin dwelling in him, doth but pray for form’s sake. He that desireth the deliverance of the church, but doth not desire it out of a true love to the church, w’ill never pray heartily and in good earnest for it: “For Zion’s sake, will I not hold ray peace,”’ &c. (Isa. lxii. 1.) A man whose soid truly loveth the interests of the church, will be solicitous for it; as Eli trembled for the ark of God (1 Sam. iv. 13). So, when at ease, we ask temporal supplies for fashion’s sake: God must have the name, though we eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel.
4. Want of reverence to God; and therefore they babble over words without sense and feeluig: they do not see him that is invisible: “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy -words be few” (Eccl. v. 1, 2). Keep thy heart and affections when thou goest into God’s presence; a little outward lip-service is but the sacrifice of fools, an aflTront to the power and majesty of God: “Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts?” (Mai. i. 8.)
5. Want of faith: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest” (Matt. ii. 28). The woman of Canaan that would take no denial, Christ saith, “O woman, great is thy faith.” The blind man cried after the Son of David, as we run to a rich man that is charitably disposed for an alms. If we were persuaded that we should be the better for coming to God, we should not be so slight and careless in our approaches to him.
Use II. — Is to press you to this crying, or holy vehemency in prayer. The Apostle biddeth us to “continue instant in prayer;” TrpocTKaprtpsvree, continue with all your might in prayer: dyuiviKoixevo, “■ Labouring fervently for you in prayer” (Col. iv. 12). The word signifieth to be striving in a battle, and in an agony for them: it hath life in it. But what is it?
1. When the heart worketh in prayer as before.
2. When you follow the suit, and will not give over praying: “He spake a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke xviii. 1); Slu rrjv avaideiav, “Because of his importunity, he will ]-ise,” &c. (Luke xi. 8.) The Prophet telleth God plainly what he would do: “For Zion’s sake, will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,” &c. (Isa. lxii, 1.) So Jacob: “I will not let thee so, except thou bless me;” absque tenon recedani (Gen. xxxii. 26).
3. “WHien deaf to disappointments and discouragements from without, from within, from himself, from God himself: “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you,” &c. (1 Sam. xii. 23.) Notwithstanding the many objections in his heart, what God would do to a rebellious people. So Elijah, when the heavens were as brass and the clouds as iron. And blind Bartimeus: “Many charged him, that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal. Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark x. 48). When God seemeth to cast out prayer, to give no answer, or a contrary one. So Daniel when forbidden to pray; when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and prayed three times a-day as aforetime (Dan. vi. 10): he doth not make one suit the less, or abate one jot ot his zeal. To cleave to God when he seemeth to thrust us from him (Job xiii. 15). This is a holy obstinacy, very acceptable unto God. The woman of Canaan standeth fending and proving with Christ, till he giveth her satisfaction; then, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” When we turn discouragements into arguments and motives of believing, and draw near to Christ the more he seemeth to drive us from him. However God wrestle with such for a while, it is with a purpose to give faith the victory, and to yield us himself to do for us what our souls desire of him. You pray, and God keepeth silence: “He answered her not a word” (Matt. XV. 23). It is not said he heard not a word; but “he answered her not a word.” These two differ. Christ often heareth, when he doth not answer; his not answering is indeed an answer, and speaks this, ‘Pray on, and continue your crying still; the door is kept bolted that you may knock again:’ afterwards a rebuke. First he answereth not a word, then giveth an answer to the disciples, not to the woman, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;” and then, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto dogs;” but she turned the discouragement into an argument j and she said.
“Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”
4. Holy fervency and vehemency will be argumentative, and plead with God as Abraham, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. xviii. 25.) So Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 9). Jacob pleadeth God’s promise, “Return unto thy country, and unto thy kindred; and I will deal well with thee;” ‘Lord, I undertook not this journey but upon this encouragement.’ The little honour God hath by the church’s calamities (Psalm xliv. 12; Isa. Hi. 4, 5). The praise God will have from his people. Psalm cxlii. 6, do it as David in the text, “I will keep thy statutes.” The chief arguments are, God’s covenant: “Arise, O God; plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily” (Psalm lxxiv. 22); “Have respect unto the covenant” (verse 20). The merits of Christ: ‘Lord, hear for the Lord’s sake.’ Desire is witty to find out arguments and reasoning to enforce the things we sue for.
But how shall we get it?
1. Have a sincere desire to the things asked; we shall cry for what we value and earnestly desire: “If thou criest for knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov. ii. 3 — 5).
2. Be persuaded of the Lord’s willingness to hear and power to help. A rich and bountiful person, a beggar will not let him go; if he see only a rich man, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst” (Matt. viii. 2): it is in the power of your hand to help us. But is not God willing also? Suppose it be an uncertainty, yet cry mightily unto God, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent?” (Jonah iii. 9.) If there be but a possibility, yet try what importunity will do: “I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me” (Psalm lvii. 2). He hath heard once, and will again.
3. Beg the assistance of the Spirit; our necessities are not sharp enough to quicken our affections; they need the secret influence of grace; it is his work to set us a-groaning and crying to God. How well are we provided for, with an advocate and notary (Rom. viii. 26; Jude 20).
4. Let us rouse up ourselves: “There is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee” (Isa. lxiv. 7); “Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early” (Psalm lvii. 8). We must draZwTrvpriv, stir up the gift of God which is in us (2 Tim. i, 6).
5. Let us take heed we do not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. v. 19), bring deadness on our hearts, by carnal liberty. So much enlarged as we are to the flesh, so much straitened in the spirit: where desires are after other things, there will be little delight in prayer.
6. The way to be fervent is to be frequent and often with God. A key seldom turned, rusts in the lock. The fire of the sanctuary was never to go out; by great interruptions, we lose what we have wrought: “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright; but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity” (Prov. x. 29).
II. I come now to the second qualification, “With my whole heart;” which importeth his integrity and sincerity in praying.
Doctrine. — Our prayers to God must be sincere as well as fervent. The heart must be in them, and the whole heart. This noteth —
1. Seriousness; that we heed what we saj’, otherwise we do not pour out our hearts before God. It is so far from being a spiritual act, that it is not a rational act, but like the parrots speaking by rote, or as children say their prayers; and we must not be always children. Surely, we do not speak to God as God, as an all-seeing Spirit, if we do not mind what we say (John iv. 24); and, “Burning lips and a wicked heart, are like a potsherd covered with silver dross” (Pj-ov. xxiv. 23).
2. A hearty desire or aifectionateness. Praying from memory and invention, and praying from affection, are two distinct things; yea, praying from conscience, and praying from the heart. INIany times the mind is in lrayer, when the heart is not in it. The mind or conscience dictates what is fit to be asked: but the heart doth not consent, or not urge it to make any such suit to God; and so the prayer is repeated in the very making: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me “(“Psalm lxvi. 18). The understanding judgeth that a meet prayer; but the heart is biassed the contrary way to some known sin. Therefore, as David calleth all that is within him to bless God (Psalm ciii. 1), so to pray to him. Memory, understanding, conscience, will, affections, all that is within us must attend upon this work. That which God heareth is desire: “Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear” (Psalm x. 17). So, “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them” (Psalm cxlv. 19).
3. The prevalcncy of these affections. That God and his interest be uppermost in the soul, and the heart be effectually bent towards him; for prayer is not a work barely of our natural faculties, but of grace guiding, ordering, and inclining those faculties; not only a work of understanding and will, but of faith, love, fear, zeal, hatred of sin, temperance, patience, and other virtues, which do bend the heart towards God, and draw it off from other things; and, without them, the understanding will not be clear, and have any deep sense of the worth of spiritual things without these. The will is remiss, and they never pursue them in good earnest; we may wish for them, but shall not will them: as Balaam, “Let me die the death of the righteous;” but he “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Peter ii. 15), and so spake words which his heart allowed not. The affections. will be diverted to other things, and we cannot have those longings and strong desires after grace (Psalm csix. 36, and Col. iii. 2), or at best but a little passionate earnestness for the present.
4. A universal care to please God in all things, without harbouring any known sin in our hearts (Psalm lxvi. 18). And, “Thou hast jiroved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast ti’ied me, and shalt find nothing” (Psalm xvii. 3). Nothing contrary to the new covenant, no guile; nothing in his heart contrary to what was in his mouth: so no insincerity found: “If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him: if i;iiquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles” (Job xi. 13, 14). If you mean to call upon God with any confidence, all that is displeasing to him must be cast out of the heart. This is the best preparation: all filth must be swejit out when you come to the holy God; for he will not do us good till we are fit to receive good. Therefore, if you mean to stretch out your hand in prayer, thus you must do; then may you lift up your face without spot, have boldness and confidence in prayer; but when the heartf is
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wedded to any vanity, God will not hear: “Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Ahnighty regard it” (Job xxxv. 13).
Use. — Is to persuade us to pray with our whole hearts. For —
1. God will not be mocked (Gal. vi. 7); that is, in vain. You may venture to mock God, put him off with vain pretences; but it will cost you dear. He knoweth the thoughts afar off” (Psalm cxxxix. 2); and,. “The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged Bword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. iv. 12, 13). Though man cannot find you out, yet God can.
2. God hath expressly told you, “The prayer of the upright is his delight” (Prov. XV. 8). He will pardon many defects; but he will not pardon want of sincerity, either in the person or prayer. Though you cannot bring the pomp of gifts, or exact righteousness, yet, if sincere, God will delight in you; he measureth your prayer by that.
3. Where there is a moral integrity, you do not dissemble; God can find the defect of supernatural integrity: “I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such a heart in them,” &c. (Deut. V. 28, 29.) Therefore be sure your lips do not feign (Psalm xvii. 1), and pretend more grace than you have; so that, for the main, your hearts be upright, seriously, readily bent to please him in all things. To this end, —
1. The tongue must not only pray, but the heart. How dare you tell God to his face, that you love him, and fear him, and trust in him, when there is no such matter? No such forgery as counterfeiting the voice of God’s Spirit. The heart should be first and chief in prayer; and, “Lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the healens” (Lam. iii. 4). There is the chief voice, the hand without it is nothing.
2. You must make conscience of graces as well as gifts; yea, more than gifts: “But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet show I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Cor. xii. last verse, with 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2). And bewail unbrokenness of heart, more than brokenness of expression; if you chatter like cranes, yet if there be a holy desire in it, God will hear,
3. You must pray earnestly in secret as well as in company: “When thou prayest, thou’ shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of rQen,“&c. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,” &c. (Matt. vi. 5, 6.) We have more enlargement there, because we represent our own case to God. Mourn apart: “My soul shall weep in secret places” (Jer. xiii. 17). We are flat, cold, loose, careless in private; strive to speak with the same power, life, holiness in private, as you would in public
4. What you would be m prayer, you must be o«/’ o,” prayer: “The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools” (Prov. xxvi. 7). As the legs of the lame, one doth not answer another, they are devout, all of a fire in their prayers, but neglectful of God in their conversations: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication hi the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance” (Eph. vi. 18); “He that tunieth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Prov. xxviii. 9). He cloth not live in his prayers. We must live in the same frame.
5. You must pray as affectionately for heavenly, as you would for earthly things. A carnal man’s mind and heart is upon worldly things, and spiritual things lie by; contrary to Matt. vi. 33, where we are bid first to seek the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, &c. And, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm xxvii. 4). They have no savour for other requests, but can find tender affections for safety, ease, sloth; other petitions do but bear these company, there is their business with God; if God will give these things, we will give a discharge for other things. So that their prayers do not come from grace, but nature. Thanks to his natural necessities for all the affections he hath in prayer.
6. We must not only have our flashes and good moods. So Balaam: “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his” (Num. xxiii. 10). So those, “Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread” (John vi. 34). Strange strivings for the present, but it is only for privileges. It is vanishing: “Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?” (Job xxvii. 10.) They would have Heaven without holiness; pardon of sin, rather than power against it, or a new heart. He will pray when he seeth his time, as men take strong waters in a pang: he hath a praying fit upon him in adversity, not in prosperity: “In their affliction, they will seek me early” (Hos. v. 15).
7. As you pray to God, so you must entirely trust him: “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed “(James i. 6, 7). A carnal man wavereth; he woidd fain have help from God, but his heart runneth upon other things:” Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” (Hos. vii. 11). Their hearts are for seeking to other refuges, however they call to God among the rest. Ahaz would not ask a sign, that would engage him to depend upon God, and keep him, from running to other shifts. Sometimes hethinketh prayer will doit, and by-and-by desponds, dareth not trust God upon his prayers: he knoweth not what course to take, whether to shift for himself, or to tarry God“s leisure. But one that commits all to God, is fixed: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord” (Psalm cxii. 7). He is freed from anxious cares.