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The Necessity of Prayer
Edward M. Bounds
IX. PRAYER AND OBEDIENCE
"An obedience discovered itself in Fletcher of Madeley, which I
wish I could describe or imitate. It produced in him a ready mind to embrace
every cross with alacrity and pleasure. He had a singular love for the lambs
of the flock, and applied himself with the greatest diligence to their
instruction, for which he had a peculiar gift. . . . All his intercourse with
me was so mingled with prayer and praise, that every employment, and every
meal was, as it were, perfumed therewith." -- JOHN
WESLEY. UNDER the Mosaic law, obedience was looked upon as
being "better than sacrifice, and to harken, than the fat of lambs." In
Deuteronomy 5:29, Moses represents Almighty God declaring Himself as to this
very quality in a manner which left no doubt as to the importance He laid upon
its exercise. Referring to the waywardness of His people He cries:
"O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear
Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and
with their children after them." Unquestionably obedience is a
high virtue, a soldier quality. To obey belongs, preeminently, to the soldier.
It is his first and last lesson, and he must learn how to practice it all the
time, without question, uncomplainingly. Obedience, moreover, is faith in
action, and is the outflow as it is the very test of love. "He that hath My
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."
Furthermore: obedience is the conserver and the life of love.
"If ye keep My commandments," says Jesus, "ye shall abide in My
love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His
love." What a marvellous statement of the relationship created
and maintained by obedience! The Son of God is held in the bosom of the Father's
love, by virtue of His obedience! And the factor which enables the Son of God to
ever abide in His Father's love is revealed in His own statement, "For I do,
always, those things that please Him."
The gift of the Holy Spirit in full measure and in richer experience, depends
upon loving obedience:
"If ye love Me, keep My commandments," is the Master's word.
"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He
may abide with you for ever." Obedience to God is a condition of
spiritual thrift, inward satisfaction, stability of heart. "If ye be willing and
obedient, ye shall eat the fruit of the land." Obedience opens the gates of the
Holy City, and gives access to the tree of life.
"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates, into the
city." What is obedience? It is doing God's will: it is keeping
His commandments. How many of the commandments constitute obedience? To keep
half of them, and to break the other half -- is that real obedience? To keep all
the commandments but one -- is that obedience? On this point, James the Apostle
is most explicit: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law," he declares, "and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
The spirit which prompts a man to break one commandment is the spirit which
may move him to break them all. God's commandments are a unit, and to break one
strikes at the principle which underlies and runs through the whole. He who
hesitates not to break a single commandment, would -- it is more than probable
-- under the same stress, and surrounded by the same circumstances, break them
all.
Universal obedience of the race is demanded. Nothing short of implicit
obedience will satisfy God, and the keeping of all His commandments is the
demonstration of it that God requires. But can we keep all of God's
commandments? Can a man receive moral ability such as enables him to obey every
one of them? Certainly he can. By every token, man can, through prayer, obtain
ability to do this very thing.
Does God give commandments which men cannot obey? Is He so arbitrary, so
severe, so unloving, as to issue commandments which cannot be obeyed? The answer
is that in all the annals of Holy Scripture, not a single instance is recorded
of God having commanded any man to do a thing, which was beyond his power. Is
God so unjust and so inconsiderate as to require of man that which he is unable
to render? Surely not. To infer it, is to slander the character of God.
Let us ponder this thought, a moment: Do earthly parents require of their
children duties which they cannot perform? Where is the father who would think,
even, of being so unjust, and so tyrannical? Is God less kind and just than
faulty, earthly parents? Are they better and more just than a perfect God? How
utterly foolish and untenable a thought!
In principle, obedience to God is the same quality as obedience to earthly
parents. It implies, in general effect, the giving up of one's own way, and
following that of another; the surrendering of the will to the will of another;
the submission of oneself to the authority and requirements of a parent.
Commands, either from our heavenly Father or from our earthly father, are
love-directing, and all such commands are in the best interests of those who are
commanded. God's commands are issued neither in severity nor tyranny. They are
always issued in love and in our interests, and so it behooves us to heed and
obey them. In other words, and appraised at its lowest value -- God having
issued His commands to us, in order to promote our good, it pays, therefore, to
be obedient. Obedience brings its own reward. God has ordained it so, and since
He has, even human reason can realize that He would never demand that which is
out of our power to render.
Obedience is love, fulfilling every command, love expressing itself.
Obedience, therefore, is not a hard demand made upon us, any more than is the
service a husband renders his wife, or a wife renders her husband. Love delights
to obey, and please whom it loves. There are no hardships in love. There may be
exactions, but no irk. There are no impossible tasks for love.
With what simplicity and in what a matter-of-fact way does the Apostle John
say: "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight."
This is obedience, running ahead of all and every command. It is love,
obeying by anticipation. They greatly err, and even sin, who declare that men
are bound to commit iniquity, either because of environment, or heredity, or
tendency. God's commands are not grievous. Their ways are ways of pleasantness,
and their paths peace. The task which falls to obedience is not a hard one. "For
My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
Far be it from our heavenly Father, to demand impossibilities of His
children. It is possible to please Him in all things, for He is not hard to
please. He is neither a hard master, nor an austere lord, "taking up that which
he lays not down, and reaping that which he did not sow." Thank God, it is
possible for every child of God, to please his heavenly Father! It is really
much easier to please Him than to please men. Moreover, we may know when
we please Him. This is the witness of the Spirit -- the inward Divine assurance,
given to all the children of God that they are doing their Father's will, and
that their ways are well-pleasing in His sight.
God's commandments are righteous and founded in justice and wisdom.
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." "Just
and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." God's commandments, then, can be
obeyed by all who seek supplies of grace which enable them to obey. These
commandments must be obeyed. God's government is at stake. God's children
are under obligation to obey Him; disobedience cannot be permitted. The spirit
of rebellion is the very essence of sin. It is repudiation of God's authority,
which God cannot tolerate. He never has done so, and a declaration of His
attitude was part of the reason the Son of the Highest was made manifest among
men:
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit."
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