| The Building of Character |
Chapter 23 |
Page 7 |
The same is true of prayer for others. God has blessings manifold for our children — blessings which He is eager to put into their lives; but we must ask Him for them. If we do not, the blessings will not be bestowed, and the responsibility for their missing it will be ours. We have illustrations of this in the stories of Christ’s healings. Fathers and mothers came with their sick children, and at first they could not be cured because the parents had not faith. No doubt in many homes today children fail at lest of fullest, richest blessings because of their parents’ unbelief or small faith. Then what shall we say of the prayerless homes, where fathers and mothers love their children deeply and tenderly and yet bow no knee in supplication for them? What a sad, irreparable wrong they inflict upon their children’s lives! For the world is very full of peril for young lives. We grieve when a child dies; but we should remember that it is our living children who are really in danger, not our dead, who are safe with God.
“Lord, we can trust Thee for our holy dead;
They, underneath the shadow of Thy tomb,
Have entered into peace; with bended head
We thank Thee for their rest, and for our lightened gloom.
“But, Lord, our living!—who on stormy seas
Of sin and sorrow still are tempest-tost!
Our dead have reached their haven, but for these,
Teach us to trust Thee, Lord,—for these, our loved and lost.
“For these we make our passion-prayer at night;
For these we cry to Thee through the long day!”
The lesson is for all as well as for parents. Prayer is God’s ordained way of receiving blessings. God has comfort for men’s sorrows, but you and I who see our friends in their grief must reach out our hands and bring down the comfort by our intercession. There is a Bible story of a battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. Moses was on a hill top, overlooking the conflict. While he held up his hands Israel prevailed; but when his hands grew weary and heavy and sank down the battle went against Israel. Our friends are in the valley in sore conflict. While our hands are lifted up in intercession they are victorious; but if we cease to pray for them they falter and fail.
We do not know how much the blessing and saving of others depend upon our praying for them. We do not know how often men’s failures, defeats, and falls are due to our having ceased to pray for them. We stand between God and needy lives, and are bidden to give ourselves no rest, but to cry continually to Him for those about us. The healing of the world is in our intercessory prayer.
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