Spurgeon: November AM
* 11/03/AM
"Behold, he prayeth."
--Acts 9:11
Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul
began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the
distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted
one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the
language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the
harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by
God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. "Thou puttest
my tears into thy bottle," implies that they are caught as they
flow. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be
well understood by the Most High. He may only look up with misty
eye; but "prayer is the falling of a tear." Tears are the
diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's
court, and are numbered with "the sublimest strains that reach
the majesty on high." Think not that your prayer, however weak
or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob's ladder is lofty, but
our prayers shall lean upon the Angel of the covenant and so
climb its starry rounds. Our God not only hears prayer but
also loves to hear it. "He forgetteth not the cry of the
humble." True, He regards not high looks and lofty words; He
cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He listens not to
the swell of martial music; He regards not the triumph and pride
of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip
quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh,
the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry
of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between
the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is
opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up
therefrom.
"Faith asks no signal from the skies,
To show that prayers accepted rise,
Our Priest is in His holy place,
And answers from the throne of grace."