Proverbs 15:29b, God’s Incredible Nearness!

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October 6, Proverbs 15:29b

Psalm 24:3-4; 34:18; 1 Pet. 3:8-13 “The Lord is nigh to all that call upon Him in truth.”

God’s Incredible Nearness!

God’s sympathetic nearness to His own is contained in the second part of today’s proverb. It is an actual and observable tender nearness that comes through prayer. This is a token of His sympathy and loving care for His children.

1. The Divine Consolation: The Lord heareth the prayer of the righteous. The righteous, in the Old Testament, are not without sin, but are those who, amid the hardships and persecutions they endured, have put their humble, believing trust in the Lord. This, the self-righteous Pharisees, would never have done! The truly righteous sought their salvation and blessedness in God alone. Is He not near to them that call upon him in truth (Jn. 4:23-24)? Because the Lord is my shepherd, therefore, it follows, I shall not want. In the New Testament the righteous are those who are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Ro.3:24). Such and such only receive the promise and the consolation to pray and seek courage and strength at the Mercy Seat.

2. The Divine Condescension: In 1 Peter 2:12 Peter is clearly referring to Job 36:7; Ps. 33:18; 34:15, thus bringing the OT and NT saints together in a beautiful harmony. Job and David and Peter picture God as bowing down and inclining His ears unto, yea, even into their cry. What condescending grace is this on the part of the Omnipotent One! “What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.” To this [one] will I look, even to [one] that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word (Is. 66:2). How sinful it must be to neglect or be forgetful of this gracious, Divine condescension, that allows man, who is but dust and ashes, to come to the Creator God in prayer, and know that He bows His ears to our faintest whispered prayer! Why is the sin of prayerlessness all too common among Christians in these perilous times? Why would we rather play than pray?

3. The Divine Commendation: Godly Andrew Murray, who was “a giant in prayer,” encourages us in his book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, to see Jesus as our Teacher of effective and jubilant prayer. “Christ teaches us to pray not only by example [but] by instruction, by command, by promises, by showing us Himself, the ever-living Intercessor, as our Life. It is when we believe this, and go and abide in Him for our prayer-life too, that our fears of not being able to pray aright will vanish and we shall joyfully and triumphantly trust our Lord to teach us to pray, to be Himself the life and power of our prayer” (p.10). The Lord Jesus, prior to His Passion, gave the disciples, and us, this message. It is expedient for you that I go away, but I will send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, unto you (Jn. 16). Paul also informs us that the Comforter, the Spirit, will assist us in our prayers, especially when we know not how to pray as we ought (Rom. 8:26-27).

Thought: “A prayerless Christian should be a non-existent species.”

Prayer: Lord, grant that I might always pray and not faint.