Loss Through Unoffered Prayers

Since it is clear, from the authority of God’s word and from the lessons of God’s providence, that positive good comes in response to specific prayer, it must be equally clear that the lack of such prayer causes the lack of such good. Prayer being a recognized force in the economy of the universe, the results which pivot on the exercise of that force are necessarily missing if the force be not exercised. Loss through unoffered prayers is as truly a fact as is gain through prayers proffered.

To many it seems as if simple non-doing could not be, in itself or in its consequences, as grievous a wrong as the commission of a sin of positive performance; yet we are taught in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New, that not to do a plain duty is as offensive to God, and is Prayer

as sure to merit condemnation and punishing, as the doing of that which ought not to be done. One of the fiercest maledictions under the Old Covenant is recorded against a people who were simply inactive when they ought to have taken part in a pending contest. It is in the song of Deborah, after the battle of Israel with the Canaanites at Megiddo. Rehearsing the details of that contest, and praising those who were faithful, she cried out against the recreant non-doers:

“Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord,

Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof;

Because they came not to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the mighty.”’

It was, again, the lips of the loving Jesus that taught the wickedness and guilt of non-doing, and foretold the terrible doom of those who did nothing more reprehensible than to do nothing. It was the man who simply kept his one pound wrapped in a napkin, instead of putting it at interest or using it in trade, who was NE ne ‘ fie ce: r J J - PA -” 4 wa. tae ai ) é Ein G Sire 9 ee: I ty, 5 2 bt AA “r we ae - tS spin — hd oy om et AF i: f 7 fast Fi) 7 tp btt! FB AAAAF Bw: i e af ro aT ots Pa

Loss through Unoffered Prayers Eu a Lt ees - Cots

called the “wicked servant,’ and wie whom his treasure was taken away. It was the man who merely failed to invest his talent at remunerative rates who was denounced as “wicked and slothful, i and cast, as an “unprofitable servant,” into outer darkness, where there “shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” In the inspired description of the day of final Migs: = account, the fearful doom pronounced by lee the Judge of all the earth against the lost is not based on the fact of their evil-doing, but on their evil non-doing. “Inasmuch as ye did it not,” therefore “depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” Can there be any loss greater than the, loss of one’s very self for all eternity which results from simple non-doing when one ought to have done? This thought suggests the irreparable loss through unoffered prayers, in face of the fact that faith-filled’ prayers are a force in God’s providential 155

In the whole realm of nature, loss through non-action is quite as real and positive, and may, indeed, be quite as y ruinous, as loss through actual wrong-doing. A man, by not reaping, not sow-

ling, not plowing, may as truly lose a har-

vest as by setting fire to his standing grain;

land neither drought nor frost, neither mil- ldew nor locusts, can more surely be a cause lof famine, among those dependent on the crop, than could be a simple neglect of processes which would in God’s providence (secure first the blade, then the ear, and ‘after that the full corn in the ear. A man’s family can be as truly shelterless through his failure to build a house, or to buy or rent one, as by his turning them out of their home, and blowing up their dwelling with a charge of dynamite. To fail to take needful food or drink, or

lto secure fresh air in a room filled with

stifling gas, may be a means of as sure 156

Loss through Unoffered Prayers

death to a man as a pistol or a razor em- — ployed for self-destruction. As with one’s self, so with one’s fellows. Simply to fail — to reach out a hand toa drowning child,

when within reach of him from the river bank, or to speak a word of warning to a blind man on the edge of a precipice,

or to hold back a deaf one from stepping before a coming train, may bring on one’s soul the blood of the man lost as truly

as if he were deliberately murdered.

Neglecting to provide needed shelter, or food, or clothing, for a child, may cause its death. Neglecting to give it wise counsel or ample protection may result in that child’s going astray to its ruin. Failing to pray for and with one’s child day by day may be as culpable neglect as failing to give it material sustenance and ministry. Whatever is to be gained by prayer for one’s self or for others may be utterly lost if that prayer be held back.

A man in mature life, who had for years stood well in the church and the commu-Prayer

nity, was arrested for forgery, and charged

with various acts of embezzlement. His aged mother visited him in the jail. As she entered his cell, she fell on his neck in an outburst of tears. She had no word of reproach for him, but she reproached herself most bitterly. “My poor boy!” she cried out; “this is all my fault. I haven’t been praying for you as I ought

‘to. While you were a child I prayed for

you constantly; and so all along, until I saw you in the church, active in Christ’s service. Then I thought you safe, and I only thanked God for you in my prayers. Now you have been led astray, while I was neglecting to pray for you. Poor boy! poor boy! your old mother is to blame for it all.”

Whatever may be thought of that mother’s division of responsibility in the case of herself and her son, it is evident that she had a sense of loss through unoffered prayers; and who shall say that if that mother’s

prayers for the gracious upholding of her 158

Loss through Unoffered Prayers

son had been ceaseless and full of faith, he might not have had his feet kept from fall- ing. If a mother’s prayers are potent / for good, their lack may be a veritable loss. And there are other prayers than) those of a mother that have power with

God, and that cannot be neglected without loss.

He who fails to pray for God’s protection as he sleeps, or for God’s guidance as he wakes, omits to take a precaution for his safety that is as important as it is real. Why should he think he is not likely to have a resultant positive loss from that omission? If he does not pray for special wisdom and grace as he attempts to write. or to speak, to teach or to pray, for the benefit of others, can he hope that his work will show the gain that it could have through such prayer? Can he hope that there will be no actual loss from his neg- lect? Blessings that are promised in response to faith-filled prayer cannot be expected if faith-filled prayer is not offered.

Prayer

Loss stands over against gain in the neglect of the duty and privilege of prayer. “Heaven is the magazine wherein God puts

Both good and evil; prayer’s the key that shuts

And opens this great treasure; ‘tis a key

Whose wards are Faith, and Hope, and Charity.

Would’st thou prevent a judgment due to sin?

Turn but the key, and thou may’st lock it in.

Or would’st thou have a blessing fall upon thee?

Open the door, and it will shower on thee.”

To fail of using wisely the key of prayer is to fail of guarding against the dreaded outflow of evil, and to fail of securing the desirable outflow of good.

There are those who are near us, and those whom we hold dear, who are suffering to-day from lack of blessings that would have been theirs had we done our duty in the proffer of faith-filled prayers in their behalf. We ourselves are losers in spiritual life and power through our failure to be instant and earnest in gaining blessings that are promised only in response to fitting and timely prayer. God forgive us for our lack and our loss! Let us pray!

NS

STRATIVE A