Proverbs 15:29a, The Measureless Chasm

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October 5, Proverbs 15:29a

Matt. 6:1-15; Acts 13:1-4; 1 Tim. 2:1-8 “Don’t let that “great gulf fixed” become permanently fixed!”

The Measureless Chasm

The Bible has much to say on the importance of prayer for God’s people. No matter how high and holy God is, believers can enjoy real, intimate communion with God. In the Old Testament we have the prayers of Abraham for Sodom, Moses for Israel, Job for his friends, Nehemiah and Daniel for Jerusalem, and many others. How precious they are to instruct us! Then in the New Testament we have the example and precept of Jesus on communion with His Heavenly Father. Read the Book of Acts and the Epistles. Here again we recognise the vital place of prayer for the first Christians. Let us learn what our proverb today has to teach us regarding the vitality of prayer.

1. A Deep Enmity: The Lord is far from the wicked. First, prayer means there must be a relationship of communion with God. Communion implies union with Christ, but there can be no such union as far as the wicked are concerned. Therefore, all men cannot pray! This may come as a shock to some. It certainly opposes those who try to unite everyone through ecumenical prayer meetings. What could be better than bringing all, of every shade of faith, or no faith, to unite in prayer for “the world” with all its ills? Our Proverb says, The Lord is far from the wicked. God is in essence near to all, for all live and move in Him. None can flee from Him, or from themselves (Ps. 139). Yet, God is separate from the ungodly and they from Him. “If you would have God hear you when you pray, you must hear him when he speaks” (Brooks), but this, the wicked will not do. Now, we know, says John, that God heareth not sinners (Jn. 9:31)! Until a sinner cries, from a broken and a contrite heart, God be merciful to me a [the] sinner there must remain a deep enmity that separates the wicked and their prayers from a Holy God.

2. A Dual Antipathy: There is mutual recoil. God’s will and the sinner’s will stand at opposite poles. The wicked live in rebellion against God, and have no desire for fellowship with Him. They defiantly seek no covenant relationship with Him. The Bible teaches that God is Holy, and is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity (Hab. 1:13). The Bible also makes this measureless chasm very clear. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God… that he will not hear (Isa. 59:2). Our Lord Jesus will say to those on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire (Mt. 25:41, 46). Before crying foul, remember, the ungodly also says, “God, depart from me! I do not know you!” Read, with trembling lips the opening verses of Psalm 10, if you doubt that defiance! How can “atheists” blame God when their child is born handicapped or because He doesn’t answer their prayers? Yet they do and often use this to bolster their unbelief. Lo, they that are far from thee shall perish (Ps. 73:27). Matthew Henry sums it up, “God set Himself at a distance from those who set Him at defiance.” Praise God, He can and does break that defiant heart (Ps. 51:8-10)!

Thought: “The wicked in prayer may lift up his hands, but cannot lift up his face.”

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that You heard this sinner’s cry.