March 25, 2018
Scripture:
Hymn 282 – What a friend we have in Jesus
Prayer
Last time we saw different attributes of the Word of God. We’ll look further in Proverbs 30 today and learn about prayer. Prayer is talking to God, and there are lots of types of prayers:
We’ll mostly consider supplication today. Supplication is asking God for things. Agur asked God for two things in Proverbs 30:7-9.
First, Agur prayed that God would remove vanity and lies from him. Many people back then and still today lie and cheat to get things that they want. We know that it’s wrong to do things like cheat on a test, and Agur wanted God to remove such things from him so that he wouldn’t be stopped from living a godly life. Philippians 4:6. God is in control of everything. Agur knew this, and we acknowledge this when we pray. He is sovereign and can certainly answer our prayers.
Secondly, Agur prayed that the Lord wouldn’t make him rich or poor, just somewhere in the middle. He was concerned again that what he had would hinder him from living a godly life. He didn’t want to be so poor that he wouldn’t trust in the Lord to provide and end up stealing. However, he didn’t want to be so rich that he would forget about the Lord. That reminds us of Joseph asking the butler to remember him when the butler got out of prison, but as soon as things were going well for the butler, he forgot about Joseph.
Mathew 6:13a. The Lord gave us an example of prayer here and showed that we should pray that we would be kept out of temptation. Agur felt that he would be tempted if he was too rich or too poor. Matthew 6:33. God says that if we seek first His kingdom (if we honour Him) then He will provide for our needs. Agur didn’t want anything to hinder his relationship with God.
We can take our needs to the Lord in prayer, but we each have different needs. Jabez, also in the Old Testament, prayed that the Lord would increase his land, and the Lord answered his prayer. He had different needs than Agur did.
Matthew 14:30- Here, the disciples were out in a boat in a storm, and Jesus came to them walking on the water. Peter wanted to come to Him, but ended up looking at the waves and sinking. He cried out, “Lord save me!” Sometimes we don’t have a long time to pray, and just need to use a short prayer for help or safety. The Lord will still hear and answer these, just as He saved Peter. Matthew 15:25. The Lord was sent to teach and help the Children of Israel, not the Gentiles. However, this Gentile woman came and begged Him, “Lord help me!” It was another short prayer, but the Lord listened and healed her daughter.
So those are the two prayers of Agur, and two of the shortest prayers in the Bible. Prayer is important; may we all pray regularly!
James 5:16-20
During affliction we are exhorted to come to the Lord. Prayer in an important part of the Christian life. God encourages it and He listens.
“Confess you faults” doesn’t mean go around telling people your short comings. Some of our writers see it as being between two people in the assembly. If something is bothering one brother they can go to another brother they have confidence in. The anointing of the sick was something official; this isn’t. It’s going to a brother for forgiveness or help and prayer. Maybe we have the need for accountability. This requires a spirit of humility. Confession is important. The Bible tells us that if we regard iniquity in our heart the Lord won’t hear us. In this case, though, there isn’t necessarily one brother right and the other wrong.
Righteous is a condition. When prayer are fervent they are effective. James tells us that this can accomplish much. What is our spiritual state? Are we walking in righteousness, truth, and piety? Peter’s prayer when he was sinking strikes me as fervent. Darby puts the end of verse sixteen as, ”[The] fervent supplication of the righteous [man] has much power”. The example given is very interesting. We are not told this in Kings, and if it had not been mentioned here we would have never known. Elijah was unhappy with Ahab, so he prayed against him. I’ve been to a lot of prayer meetings and I have never heard us pray against something. We are against so many things, like abortion. Are we to pray that something disastrous would happen? We do find more grace in the Gospels, though. Maybe Elijah knew God’s will and prayed accordingly.
Some say that verse nineteen and twenty can be either evangelical or to the back slidden. This takes a person going on with God and in truth. Those who do the counseling have God’s blessing. They’ve interceded. And you don’t announce to others when one brother has erred.
Hymn 350 - I will make you fishers of men
Prayer