Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century pastor in England, was a “Prince of Preachers.”  With a command of the English language and insight on loan from God, he had a way of expressing truth that penetrates my mind and heart.  He wrote a book of daily devotionals, 2 per day, called “Morning and Evening.”  This morning’s reading was powerful insight into what prayer shows me about my own needs.

An excerpt from this morning’s devotional:  “The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are.  If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty.   While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness.”

If I am praying much and often, it tells me I realize God alone can grant me wants.  He alone can meet my needs.  And He is rich while I am poor.

Conversely, if I am not much in prayer, what does it tell me? First, that I will try to get what I want by myself, and that God either doesn’t care about what I want or He has no power to give me favor.  Secondly, it  tells me either God does not want to meet my needs, or I don’t even know what I need.  Thirdly, my lack of prayer is revealing on my view of the condition of my soul:  I think I am rich unto myself, not poor nor in need of the riches of God.

Lord, open my eyes today to my poverty. I am pained as I think about my lack of prayer and the message it speaks to me.   Help me to believe you WANT to satisfy my necessities.  Reveal to me my POVERTY and your RICHES so that I will be compelled to pray.  I don’t want to feel guilty for not praying.  I simply want to pray.  Make me desperate for you today, Lord. Just today. I cannot undo my lack of desperateness yesterday.   I cannot worry if’ I’ll be hungry for you tomorrow.  But open my eyes today to hunger and thirst for you, the Satisfier of souls, the Supplier of needs.

(If you want to read Spurgeon’s devotional in its entirety, paste this link into your browser.)

http://blueletterbible.org/morneve/10/1011am.html