Unanswered Prayer and A Hidden God

Sometimes, from our point of view in our prayers, God seems to hide Himself when He does not give to us what we request of Him. We ask the Lord for this or that, but we do not receive it. We may ask again and again, but what we request is not given.

From our point of view, therefore, it seems as if God is hidden. It is as if He does not hear what we say. We cannot find Him. Heaven is silent. No one is paying any attention.

The reason we are not granted our requests may very well be that we ask something contrary to God's will. Then it ought not to surprise us that God does not give us our request. The solution to the problem is, quite obviously, learn to pray, in every request that you make, "Thy will be done." James puts it succinctly: "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (4:15).

But sometimes we are convinced that we are praying according to the will of God. Perhaps we justify our petition with a line of reasoning similar to this: "I have been given certain responsibilities of God in His kingdom and covenant. Now the Lord has sent me an affliction that makes it impossible for me to carry out my responsibilities. And so, because it is His will that I carry out my responsibilities, it is also His will that I be delivered from this affliction."

I am sure the apostle Paul reasoned much the same way when he prayed that God would remove the thorn from his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-9). He was sure that he could not possibly perform his work as missionary to the Gentiles unless the Lord would remove the thorn. And so he prayed-- three times no less! Heaven was silent. God apparently did not hear him in his anxious request. God said nothing-- neither yes nor no. Where was God? Could He not hear?

Yet even this prayer was not in harmony with the will of God, and Paul's careful reasoning could not make it such. How often does not this happen with us! We mistake, once again, our own desires for God's will, although it may very well be that, as in the case of Paul, we sell the grace of God short. God's grace is able to do beyond what we ask or think, but we are sometimes, in our weak faith, doubtful whether this is really true.

God, in effect, told Paul the following: (1) Get busy with the work to which you were called; (2) Quit praying about that thorn, for I am not going to take it away; (3) When it comes down to it, I really cannot use you unless you continue to have that thorn. The only way you can do your work, quite contrary to what you think, is if that thorn remains; (4) the reason is twofold. My grace is sufficient for you to do the work, and do not sell my grace short. Also my strength is made perfect in weakness. That is, only when you, Paul, are as weak as it is possible to be and the work is still done, will it become apparent that I did it all, and not you. And that is the way it ought to be.

Prof. Herman Hanko 

When You Pray, pp. 147-148

https://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hanko/products/when-you-pray 

Affliction and A Hidden God

It is probably in times of deep affliction, when our souls are overwhelmed in us by the agonizing difficulties of our way, that the problem of a hidden God is greatest.

Our afflictions need not necessarily be caused by some specific sin in our lives. We have the example of Job to testify of this. 

Nevertheless, there are times when we ask the Lord for something that we are specifically commanded to ask for-- perhaps grace to endure some great trial. But even though we ask according to the will of God, we are still confronted with a hidden God, for no answer comes, even then.

I would venture a guess that, at some time in his or her life, every child of God experiences the same thing as Job. In fact, I am sure that this is why God put this beautiful and important book in the Bible. We all need it.

As was true with Job, sometimes God hides Himself even when there is no chastisement for sin. In a way, even then sin surely is involved. We are by no means perfect in this life, and always chastisement is for the purpose of correction. But God may hide Himself simply to teach us an important truth concerning us or Him, a truth which we have to learn and know. 

God's answer to Job was surprising and very disconcerting. It came, first, through Elihu, who seemed to be the only one with a correct understanding of things; but finally God Himself spoke of Job in that powerful and soul-shaking speech found in chapters 38-41.

In sum, these chapters make just one point, a point which was God's answer to Job. God had hidden Himself from Job. Yes, He did. But then He revealed Himself, and this is what He said.

"Job," God said, "you must learn that I am God. I am the one only God, the creator of all, great, glorious, perfect, beyond understanding in all My works and ways. 

"Now, Job, because this is true, you must also learn that I am under no obligation whatsoever to explain anything I do. I am not under obligation to you to explain what I do to you. I am not to be summoned, as you would like, into the dock to give an account to you of My actions and to justify My deeds. Who, really, do you think you are? Can you require of Me that I explain to you what I do? And even when I do what I have done to you, I have no need whatsoever to justify my actions to you.

"Were you present when I created all things? Were you there when I conceived my own perfect counsel? Should I have consulted with you before I determined to do what I decided had to be done for the perfect glory of My name?

"Job, the simple fact of the matter is that, as far as you are concerned, there is no answer. Nor will I give one. Nor need I give one. I am God!" 

Paradoxically, this is precisely God's purpose in hiding Himself: that we may learn this great truth. To use Calvin's expression, God batters us. We may perhaps rebel. So He batters us some more. We may, with great difficulty, submit but plead to know the reason. He batters us some more. We may cry out that we can take no more of this awful battering. He batters some more. We still have not learned.

And so, finally, at the bottom of the pit of our pain, God shows us that He is God and does what He pleases-- also with us. And so, finally, we say, Lord, whatever is Thy will, do with me as it seems good to Thee. Whatever happens to me is of no account. Do Thou Thy will. I want nothing more." Or as Job put it, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (13:15).

Then the God who is hidden speaks of His love in tenderest of terms and with infinite mercy towards us. He shows us that He never really was hidden, for He continued to hide all our tears in His bottle, but He assures us that it was necessary that He withdraw Himself from us so that we might come to appreciate more fully the wonders of His grace. He humbles us, but only to lift us up. He brings us very low, because only by our going through a deep valley can He bring us to the mountaintop. To forsake us is to draw us nearer to Himself.

Prof. Herman Hanko

When You Pray, pp. 148-149

https://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hanko/products/when-you-pray 

 

What Prayer Is

 

Prayer is to the Christian what breathing is to a healthy person. Without prayer a Christian dies.  Breathing is spontaneous; in many ways so is prayer. 

Prayer is like a river that returns to its source, for prayer has its power in the Spirit of Christ working life in the heart of God's child; that life returns again in prayer to God who gave it. It is the expression of the thirst for God that makes a stag panting after the water brooks an apt simile (Ps. 42:1).

Prayer is lovers' talk, for it is a holy conversation between the living and eternal God and the redeemed child of God in which both speak to each other in the most intimate relationship of love. 

Prayer is a child coming to his Father, knowing that his Father loves him and will provide for him in every need. We must begin our prayers, the Lord says, with "Our Father who art in heaven."

In prayer the believer enters consciously into God's presence. There is an earthly element in prayer, for in heaven we will not pray any longer, at least not in the sense in which we usually speak of it. We shall see Christ face-to-face (1 Cor. 13:12) and be consciously in Christ's presence every moment. But here on earth we are preoccupied with many things, and God is often far from our thoughts. Prayer is the pause in our often busy and hectic lives that brings us face-to-face with God through Jesus Christ. Prayer is also heavenly, for it takes us out of this world and carries us soaring on the wings of prayer into God's own dwelling place.

Usually we think of prayer as those moments when we fold our hands and close our eyes and it is usually necessary for us to do this, because we are easily distracted and our minds are easily turned away from being in God's presence. But folding our hands and closing our eyes are not essential to prayer, nor do these actions guarantee prayer. A mother, while all but overwhelmed with the cares and duties of tending to the needs of her family, may offer a silent prayer to God as she has her hands immersed in dishwater. A child, taunted by cruel classmates, may seek grace from God to retaliate against his tormentors. A father, forced to listen to foul language in the shop, may, while operating his press, seek strength to witness properly to those who take the name of his God in vain.

To remember that prayer is consciously to be in the presence of God in order to carry on a holy conversation with Him will help us to understand how Scripture can admonish us to pray continuously. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul literally says, "Pray without ceasing." There are no qualifications, no limitations, no explanations that would ease the force of the command, but only this: "Pray without ceasing." The same admonition is repeated in Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (6:18). In Colossians 4:2 the members of the church at Colosse are urged to "continue in prayer," and to the church at Rome Paul writes that they should continue "instant in prayer" (12:12). This is the high calling to which we are called, the goal of sanctification in our lives. To walk every moment in the consciousness of being in the presence of God is that for which we strive here in the world, but which shall be ours only in glory.

Herman Hanko 

When You Pray, pp. 1-2 

https://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hanko/products/when-you-pray

Living with Unanswered Prayer

12 MAY

At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Daniel 9:23

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Matthew 6:5-15

Our vows and prayers cannot possibly gain us favor with God unless we are already embraced by Him; for in no other way do we find God's favor unless we first flee by faith to His loving kindness. Then, in reliance upon Christ as our Mediator and Advocate. we may dare to approach Him as a child to a parent. For these reasons our prayers are of no avail before God unless they are in some degree founded in faith, which alone reconciles us to God. We cannot be pleasing to Him without the pardon and remission of sins.

We observe also how the saints pleased God by enduring the failure to obtain their requests. Daniel endured trials for many years and was afflicted by much grief, yet he did not consider himself worthy of receiving anything by that labor. He might ave concluded that all his work was vain, for he prayed and perseveringly without effect. But the angel now meets Daniel and frankly testifies that Daniel has found acceptance with God. He is to understand that he has not suffered any repulse, even though he has failed to obtain the object of his earnest desires.

Likewise, we may become anxious in our thoughts and inclined to despair when there appears to be no profit or fruit of prayers, and we receive no open and immediate answer. We must then consider this instruction from the angel that even Daniel, who was most acceptable to God, was heard at length, even though he was not permitted to see with his eyes the object he wishes. Daniel died in exile and did not see the fulfillment of the prophet's prophecies concerning the happy state of the church.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: 

"Unanswered prayer" can be a tremendous burden. But it is not an indication that we are not accepted by God. Rather, we should persevere in prayer, knowing that if we are accepted with God, our prayers are heard even though we have not seen an answer yet.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Prayer for God’s Ministers

LORD, Teach Thy ministers how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, that they may not preach themselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and may study to shew themselves approved to God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Make them mighty in the scriptures, that from thence they may be thoroughly furnished for every good work, in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, and sincerity, and sound speech, which cannot be condemned.

Enable them to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, to meditate upon these things, to give themselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word, to give themselves wholly to them; and to continue in them, that they may both save themselves and those that hear them.

Let utterance be given to them, that they may open their mouths boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, that thereof they may speak, as they ought to speak, as able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, and let them obtain mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

Let the arms of their hands be made strong by the hands of the mighty  God of Jacob; and let them be full of power by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, to show Thy people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Make them sound in the faith, and enable them always to speak the things which become sound doctrine; with meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; and let not the servants of the Lord strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach.

Make them good examples to the believers; in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity; and let them be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, and let Holiness to the Lord be written upon their foreheads.

LORD, grant that they may not labour in vain, or spend their strength for nought, and in vain, but let the hand of the Lord be with them, that many may believe, and turn to the Lord.

To God be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end,

Amen.

Matthew Henry

A Method For Prayer, pp. 104-105

Lifting up Prayers

15 APRIL

It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. Isaiah 37:4

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Mattthew 6: 9-13

Hezekiah sends messengers to Isaiah, asking him to lift up prayer for the remnant of Judah. In this we learn that the duty of a prophet is not only to comfort the afflicted with the Word of the Lord but also to offer prayers for their salvation.

Pastors and ministers of the Word, therefore, should not think they have fully discharged their duty when they have exhorted and taught, if they do not also pray. This also is what all of us ought to do. Yet Hezekiah asks Isaiah to pray in a particular manner so that he might lead the way to others by his example. "To lift up prayer" is nothing more than "to pray," yet the mode of expression deserves attention, for it shows how feelings should be regulated when we pray. 

Much of Scripture tells us to lift up our hearts to heaven (Lam. 3:41), for if we do not, we will have no fear of God. Moreover, we are so dull that we may be immediately seized by gross imaginations of God. If he did not bid us look to heaven, we would choose rather to seek Him at our feet. "To lift up prayer," therefore, is to pray in such a manner that our hearts do not grovel on the earth or think anything earthly or gross about God but rather ascribe to Him what is suitable to His majesty. Then our warm and earnest affections may take lofty flight. It is thus said in Psalm 141: "Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense;... as the evening sacrifice."

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: How often do we lift up prayers to heaven? When do they seem to stay on the ground? What does that do to our spirit, and how is our impression of God affected?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

What it is to Wait upon God (1)

...To wait on God is to live a life of desire towards Him, delight in Him, dependence on Him, and devotedness to Him.

A. It is to live a life of desire towards God; to wait on Him, as the beggar waits on his benefactor, with earnest desire to receive supplies from him; as the sick and sore in Bethesda’s pool, waited for the stirring of the water, and attended in the porches with desire to be helped in and healed. When the prophet had said, Lord, in the way of Thy judgments we have waited for Thee, he explained himself thus in the next words, the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee; and with my soul have I desired Thee, Isa. 26:8, 9. Our desire must be not only towards the good things that God gives, but towards God Himself, His favour and love, the manifestation of His name to us, an the influences of His grace upon us. Then we wait on God, when our souls pant after Him, and His favour, when we thirst for God, for the living God: O that I may behold the beauty of the Lord! O that I may taste His goodness! O that I may bear His image, and be entirely conformed to His will! For there is none in heaven or earth, that I can desire in comparison of Him. O that I may know Him more, and love Him better, and be brought nearer to Him, and made fitter for Him. Thus upon the wings of holy desire should our souls be still soaring upwards towards God, still pressing forwards, forwards towards heaven.

We must not only pray solemnly in the morning, but that desire which is the life and soul of prayer, like the fire upon the altar, must be kept continually burning, ready for the sacrifices that are to be offered upon it. The bent and bias of the soul in all its motions must be towards God, the serving of Him in all we do, and the enjoying of Him in all we have. And this is principally intended in the commands given to us to pray always, to pray without ceasing, to continue in prayer. Even when we are not making actual addresses to God, yet we must have habitual inclinations towards Him; as a man in health, though He is not always eating, yet has always a disposition in him towards the nourishments and delights of the body. Thus we must be always waiting on God, as our chief good, and moving towards Him.

B. It is to live a life of delight in God, as the lover waits on his beloved. Desire is love in motion, as a bird upon the wing; delight is love at rest, as a bird upon the nest; now though our desire must still be towards God, as that we must be wishing for more of God, yet our delight must be so in God, as that we must never wish for more than God. Believing Him to be a God all-sufficient, in Him we must be entirely satisfied; let Him be mine, and I have enough. Do we love to love God? It is a pleasure to us to think that there is a God, that He is such a one as He has revealed Himself to be, that He is our God by creation to dispose of us as He pleaseth, our God in covenant to dispose of all for the best to us; this is waiting on our God, always looking up to Him with pleasure.

Something or other the soul has that it values itself by, something or other it reposes itself in, and what is it? God of the world? What is it that we pride ourselves in? Which we make the matter of our boasting? It is the character of worldly people, that they boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, Psa. 49:6 and of their own might, and the power of their own hands, which they think has gotten them this wealth; it is the character of godly people, that in God they boast all the day long, Psa. 44:8. That is waiting on God; having our eye always upon Him with a secret complacency, as men have upon that which is their glory, and which they glory in.

What is it that we please ourselves with, which we embrace with the greatest satisfaction, in the bosom of which we lay our heads, and in having which we hug ourselves, as having all we would have: the worldly man when his barns are full of corn, saith, soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry; the godly man can never say so till he finds his heart full of God, and Christ; and grace; and then, return unto thy rest, O my soul, here repose thyself; the gracious soul dwells in God, is at home in Him, and there dwells at ease, is in Him perpetually pleased; and whatever he meets with in the world to make him uneasy, he finds enough in God to balance.

C. It is to live a life of dependence on God, as the child waits on his father, whom he ha confidence in, and on whom he casts all his care. To wait on God is to expect all good to come to us from Him, as the worker of all good for us, and in us, the giver of all good to us, and the protector of us from all evil. Thus David explains himself, Psa. 62:5 My soul wait thou only upon God, and continue still to do so, for my expectation is from Him, I look not to any other for the good I need; for I know that every creature is that to me, and no more than He makes it to be, and from Him every man’s judgment proceeds. Shall we lift up our eyes to the hills? Doth our help come from thence? Doth the dew that waters the valleys come no further, than from the tops of the hills? Shall we go higher, and lift up our eyes to the heavens, to the clouds? Can they of themselves give rain? No, if God hear not the heavens, they hear not the earth; we must therefore look above the hills, above the heavens, for all our help cometh from the Lord; it was the acknowledgment of a king, and no good one neither, if the Lord do no help thee, whence shall I help thee out of the the barn-floor, or out of the wine-press?

And our expectations from God as far as they are guided by, and grounded upon the word which He hath spoken, ought to be humbly confident and with a full assurance of faith. We must know and be sure, that no word of God shall fall to the ground, that the expectation of the poor shall not perish. Worldly people say to their gold, thou are my hope; and to the fine gold, thou art my confidence, and the rich man’s wealth is his strong city; but God is the only refuge and portion of the godly man here in the land of the living; it is to him only that he saith, and he saith it with a holy boldness, thou art my hope, and my confidence. The eyes of all things wait on Him; for He is good to all; but the eyes of His saints especially, for He is in a peculiar manner good to Israel, good to them. They know His name and therefore will trust, and triumph in Him, as those that know they shall not be made ashamed of their hope.

D. It is to live a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master, ready to observe His will, and to do His work, and in everything to consult His honour and interest.To wait on God, is entirely and unreservedly to refer ourselves to His wise and holy directions, and disposals, and cheerfully to acquiesce in them, and comply with them. The servant that waits on his master, chooseth not his own way, but follows his master step by step: thus we must wait on God, as those that have no will of our own, but what is wholly reserved into his; and must therefore study to accommodate ourselves to His. It is the character of the redeemed of the Lord, that they follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes, with an implicit faith and obedience. As the eyes of a servant are to the hand of his master, and the eyes of a maiden to the and of her mistress, so must our eyes wait on the Lord, to do what He appoints us, to take what He allots us; Father, Thy will be done; Master, Thy will be done.

The servant waits on his master, not only to do him service, but to do him honour;  and thus must we wait on God that we may be to Him for a name, and for a praise. His glory must be our ultimate end, to which we, and all we are, have, and can do, must be dedicated; we must wear His livery, attend in His courts, and follow His motions as His servant, for this end, that He may in all things be glorified.

Matthew Henry

A Method for Prayer, pp. 201-203

Waiting for God

18 MARCH

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul. Psalm 109:20

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Isaiah 30:18-26

David did not rashly or unadvisedly utter curses against his enemies but strictly adhered to what the Spirit dictated. I acknowledge that many people pretend to have similar confidence and hope, but who nevertheless recklessly rush beyond the bounds of temperance and moderation. But what David beheld by the unclouded eye of faith, he also uttered  with the zeal of a sound mind; for, having devoted himself to the cultivation of piety under the protection of Gods hand, he was aware that the day was approaching when his enemies would experience the punishment they had earned.

We learn that David's trust was placed in God alone. He did not look to people to direct his course according to whether the world smiled or frowned upon him. We can be sure that whosoever places his dependence on people will find that the most trifling incident will annoy him.

Therefore, even if the whole world abandons us, we, like this holy man, should lift up our heads to heaven and look there for our defender and deliverer. If God intends to use human instruments for our deliverance, He will soon raise up people to accomplish that purpose. But if He chooses to try our faith by depriving us of all earthly assistance, we should not regard that as any negative reflection upon the glory of His name. Rather, we should wait until the proper time when God fully  makes known His decision in which we can calmly acquiesce.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: Patience in waiting for an answer to prayer, especially a prayer for deliverance, must be consciously cultivated if we are to avoid losing confidence in God and His ways. But while waiting is a challenge, the Spirit often uses it to teach us to look to heaven, not people, for deliverance. What lessons have you learned about the Lord or about yourself while waiting on Him in prayer?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited By Joel R. Beeke

Remembered with Favor

14 MARCH

Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people: O visit me with Thy salvation. Psalm 106:4

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 30

The prophet here declares his chief desire that God would extend to him the love that He bears toward the church. He might thus participate in all the blessings which, from the very first, God bestowed upon His chosen and which He day by day continues to bestow on them. The prophet desires this not only for himself but also, in the name of the universal church, offers up a prayer for all, that by his example he might stimulate the faithful to present similar petitions.

Remember me, says he, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people; that is to say, grant to me the same unmerited kindness that Thou art pleased to confer upon Thy people, so that I may never be cut off from Thy church but will always be included among the number of Thy children. The phrase favour toward Thy people refers passively to the love that God graciously bears to His elect. The prophet uses it to indicate the marks of God's love From this gracious source flows the proof that God actually and experimentally gives grace to His people. 

The prophet considers being numbered among the people pf God as the summit of true happiness because by this means he feels that God is reconciled to him. Nothing is more desirable than this. Also, he experiences that God is bountiful. The term remember refers to the circumstance of time. As we shall see toward the end of the psalm, it was written when the people were in such a sad and calamitous state that the faithful might have entertained some secret apprehension that God had forgotten them.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: Are you, by grace, one of God's chosen people? If you are numbered among the elect, you will never be forgotten but will be remembered with favor. That should comfort you in the darkest hours.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

10 Touchstones to Test Godliness

There are ten duties that God calls for which a godly man will conscientiously perform, and indeed these duties may serve as so many other characteristics and touchstones to test our godliness by:

1. A godly man will often be calling his heart to account

He takes the candle of the Word and searches his innermost being: ‘I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search’ (Psa. 77:6). A gracious soul searches whether there is any duty omitted, any sin cherished. He examines his evidences for heaven. As he will not take his gold on trust, so neither will he take his grace. He is a spiritual merchant; he casts up the estate of his soul to see hat he is worth. He ‘sets his house in order.’ Frequent reckonings keep God and conscience friends. A carnal person cannot abide this heart-work; he is ignorant how the affairs go in his soul. He is like a man who is well acquainted with foreign parts but a stranger in his own country.

2. A godly man is much in private prayer

He keeps his hours for private devotion. Jacob, when he was left alone, wrestled with God (Gen. 32:24). So when a gracious heart is alone, it wrestles in prayer and will not leave God till it has a blessing. A devout Christian exercises eyes of faith and knees of prayer.

Hypocrites who have nothing of religion besides the frontispiece love to be seen. Christ has characterized them: ‘they love to pray in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen’ (Matt. 6:5). The hypocrite is devout in the temple.

There everyone will gaze at him, but he is a stranger to secret communion with God. He is a saint in the church, but an atheist in private. A good Christian holds secret communication with heaven. Private prayer keeps up the trade of godliness. When private holiness is laid aside, a stab is given to the heart of religion.

3. A godly man is diligent in his calling

He takes care to provide for his family . The church must not exclude the shop. Mr. Perkins said: ‘Though a man is endued with excellent gifts, hears the Word with reverence and receives the sacrament, yet if he does not practise the duties of his calling, all is sheer hypocrisy.’ Religion never did grant a patent for idleness: ‘there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all; them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread’ (2 Thess. 3:11, 12). The bread that tastes most sweet is obtained with most sweat. A godly man would rather fast than eat the bread of idleness. Vain professing Christians talk of living by faith, but do not live the calling. They are like the lilies of the field: ‘they toil not, neither do they spin’ (Matt. 6:28). An idle person is the devil’s tennis ball, which he bandies up and down with temptation till at last the ball goes out of play.

4. A godly man sets bounds to himself in things lawful

He is moderate in matters of recreation and diet. He takes only so much for the restoration of health as may the better dispose him for God’s service. Jerome lived abstemiously; his diet was a few dried figs and cold water. And Augustine in his ‘Confessions’ says: ‘Lord, Thou hast taught me to go to my food as to a medicine.’ If the bridle of reason checks the appetite, much more should the curbing-bit of grace do so. The life of a sinner is brutish; the glutton feeds ‘without fear’ (Jude 12). And the drunkard drinks without reason. Too much oil chokes the lamp, whereas a smaller quantity makes it burn more brightly. A godly man holds the golden bridle of temperance, and will not allow his table to be a snare.

5. A godly man is careful about moral righteousness

He makes conscience of equity as well as piety. The Scripture has linked both together: ‘that we might serve Him in holiness and righteousness’ (Luke 1: 74,75). Holiness: there is the first table; righteousness: there is the second table. Though a man may be morally righteous and not godly, yet no-one can be godly unless he is morally righteous. This moral righteousness is seen in our dealings with men. A good man observes that golden maxim, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do even so to them’ (Matt. 7:12). There is a threefold injustice in business matters:

(i) Using false weights: ‘the balances of deceit are in his hand’ (Hos. 12:7). Men, by making their weights lighter, make their sin heavier: “They make the ephah small’ (Amos 8:5). The ephah was a measure they used in selling. They made the ephah small; they gave but the scant measure. A godly man who takes the Bible in one hand dare not use false weights in the other.

(ii) Debasing a commodity: ‘they sell the refuse of the wheat’ (Amos 8:6). They would pick out the best grains of the wheat and sell the worst at the same price as they did the best. ‘Thy wine is mixed with water’ (Isa. 1:22). They adulterated their wine, yet made their customers believe it came from the pure grape.

(iii) Taking a great deal more than the commodity is worth. ‘If thou sell ought unto thy neighboour... ye shall not oppress one another’ (Lev. 25:14). A godly man deals exactly but not exactingly. He will sell so as to help himself, but not to damn another. His motto is, ‘a conscience void of offence toward, and toward men’ (Acts 24:16).

The hypocrite separates these two which God has joined together – righteousness and holiness. He pretends to be pure but is not just. It brings religion into contempt when men hand out Christ’s colours, yet will use fraudulent circumvention and, under a mask of piety, neglect morality. A godly man makes conscience of the second table as well as the first.

6. A godly man will forgive those who have wronged him, but revenge is sweet to nature

A gracious spirit passes by affronts, forgets injuries and counts it a greater victory to conquer an enemy by patience than by power. It is truly heroic ‘to overcome evil with good’ (Rom. 12:21). Though I would not trust an enemy, yet I would endeavour to love him. I would exclude him from my creed, but not from my prayer (Matt. 5:44).

Question: But does every godly man succeed in forgiving, yes, loving his enemies?

Answer: He does so in a gospel sense. That is :

(a) In so far as there is assent. He subscribes to it in his judgment as a thing which ought to be done: ‘with my mind I serve the law of God’ (Rom. 7:25).

(b) In so far as there is grief. A godly man mourns that he can love his enemies no more: ‘O wretched man that I am!’ (Rom. 7:24). Oh, this base cankered heart of mine, that has received so much mercy and can show so little! I have had talents forgiven me, yet I can hardly forgive pence.

(c) In so far as there is prayer. A godly man prays that God will give him a heart to love his enemies. ‘Lord, pluck this root of bitterness out of me, perfume my soul with love, make me a dove without gall.’

(d) In so far as there is effort. A godly man resolves and strives in the strength of Christ against all rancour and virulence of spirit. This is in a gospel sense to love our enemies. A wicked man cannot do this; his malice boils up to revenge.

7. A godly man lays to heart the miseries of the church

‘We wept, when we remembered Zion’ (Psalm 137:1). I have read of certain trees whose leaves, if cut or touched, the other leaves begin to contract and shrink, and for a time hang down their heads. Such a spiritual sympathy exists among Christians. When other parts of God’s church suffer, they feel themselves, as it were, touched in their own persons. Ambrose reports that when Theodosius was terminally ill, he was more troubled about the church of God than about his own sickness. When Aeneas would have saved Anchises’ life, he says, ‘Far be it from me that I should desire to live when Troy is buried in its ruins.’ In music there are two unisons; if you strike one, you perceive that the other is stirring, as if it were affected. When the Lord strikes others, a godly heart is deeply affected: ‘my bowels shall sound like an harp’ (Isa. 16:11). Though things go well with a child of God in his own private life and he lives in a house of cedar, he still grieves to see things go badly with the public. Queen Esther enjoyed the king’s favour and all the delights of the court, yet when a warrant portending bloodshed was signed for the death of the Jews, she mourns and fasts, and ventures her own life to save theirs.

8. A godly man is content with his present condition

If provisions get low, his heart is tempered to his condition. ‘Many,’ says Cato, ‘blame me because I am in need, and I blame them because they cannot be in need.’ A godly man puts a candid interpretation upon providence. When God brews him a bitter cup, he says, ‘This is my diet drink: it is to purge me and do my soul good.’ Therefore he is most content (Phil. 4:11).

9. A godly man is fruitful in good works (Titus 2:7)

The Hebrew word for godly (chasid) signifies ‘merciful’, implying that to be godly and charitable are of equal force, one and the same. A good man feeds the hungry, clothes the naked: ‘He is ever merciful’ (Psa. 37:26). The more devout sort of Jews to this day distribute the tenth part of their estate to the poor and they have a proverb among them, ‘Give the tenth, and you will grow rich.’ The hypocrite is all for faith, nothing for works, like the laurel that makes a flourish but bears no fruit.

10. A godly man will suffer persecution

He will be married to Christ, though he settles no other estate on him than the cross. He suffers out of choice and with a spirit of gallantry (Heb. 11:35). Argerius wrote a letter to his friend, headed: ‘From the pleasant gardens of the Leonine prison’. The blessed martyrs who put on the whole armour of God blunted the edge of persecution by their courage. The juniper tree makes the coolest shadow and the hottest coal. So persecution makes the coal of love hotter and the shadow of death cooler.

Thus a godly man goes round the whole circle of religious duties and obeys God in whatever He  commands.

Thomas Watson

The Godly Man’s Picture, pp. 168-173