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"I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it . . . . . yet . . . . ."
If Israel's prayer be not here viewed in the light of a factor in bringing about their
restoration, then we may ask, What purpose does it fulfil? An illustration borrowed from
everyday life may help better than a lengthy argument.
A mother knows that fruit is good for her children, consequently a bowl of oranges
and apples is kept at hand. The children, too, know that the fruit is provided for them, yet
is anyone surprised to find that, in spite of these facts, the mother should say to her
children:--
"While I want you to have fresh fruit each day because it is good for you, I also would
like you to come to me and say, Mother, may I take an orange or an apple?"
Surely this is what takes place at home continually, and no one feels at all conscious
of a problem. If vitamins were all that were involved, there might be no need that the
children should ask, but if something more is in view, if the training, the good manners,
the cultivation of fellowship between parent and child is also an object, then the parent's
desire for the child's personal request is natural.
God has something more in view than the restoration of Israel to their land and the
revival of Edenic conditions there. He desires His people's restoration to Himself, that
they shall be led by spiritual insight to ally themselves with all that constitutes the will of
God. The Scriptures reveal that will, but those who are its object are not formed of wood
or stone, neither are they automatons, and the Lord as surely wills that their hearts shall
be touched, their desires quickened, their fellowship manifested, and prayer is the means
to this end. Here is a nobler conception of prayer than that which looks upon it merely as
a means of obtaining from God that which otherwise He would not have bestowed.
There is a phase of prayer that does come under this description and we hope to give it
its place, but in the first instance prayer is necessitated by the fact that God is dealing
with creatures possessing some power of choice. He would not drive them, but He would
lead them. The Scriptures says, "This is the will of God": prayer says, "Thy will be
done".
Without forging shackles for ourselves or our readers, may we say that one aspect of
prayer is that it affords an intelligent and willing acquiescence on the part of the receiver
of blessing, with the Lord--the One Who bestows the blessing? This will require
expansion and definition, but we cannot do this until we have seen other aspects that are
indicated in the Scriptures.