June 5, 2013
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M'Cheyne: "the most spiritual prayer is a groan ... or a cry" (Exodus 2 & 3)
Having recently finished studying through the book of Genesis in BSF, I've begun reading/studying in Exodus. At the end of Exodus 2, we read of Israel's response to Egyptian bondage and then God's gracious response in Exodus 3 (all Scripture quotations from KJV):
Exodus 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them...
Exodus 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them... 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
It struck me how blessed God's people were since they were given a right view of their condition, i.e. - they saw they were oppressed, they saw they were in bondage, and they forthrightly acknowledged they were poor and needy. As a result, they were led to seek the face of God with groaning and cries for deliverance. May God raise up in His people today such groaning and cries! May God forgive us as we are too prone to that despicable Laodicean position of thinking we are rich and that all is well (Rev. 3:14-22). My brothers and sisters in Christ, even the dry bones of Israel had some sense of their dryness and their desperate state, did they not? Ezekiel 37:11b Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.’
As I mentioned in my last post, "before the day of Pentecost they were dry, sapless trees...," this year is the 200th anniversary of Robert Murray M'Cheyne's birth. I've been continuing to look through Andrew Bonar's "Memoir and Remains of R.M. M'Cheyne," and I found this fitting reminder to us all:
To a prayer-meeting, consisting of a few young men that had been awakened to flee from wrath, he [M'Cheyne] gave this advice: "Guard against all ambition to excel one another in expression. Remember the most spiritual prayer is a 'groan which cannot be uttered' (Rom. viii. 26); or a cry of 'Abba, Father' (Gal. iv. 6)."
~ Source: "Memoir and Remains of R.M. M'Cheyne" by Andrew Bonar (Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1966, 1973, reprinted from the 1892 edition), 80.
* * *Holy God, Pour out upon us Your Spirit of grace and supplications. We are unable to pray, and we do not know how to pray or what to pray unless Your Holy Spirit leads us and teaches us, for without You we can do nothing. Grant to us today those most spiritual prayers, that Spirit of groaning and crying –– such humble and importunate prayers as ascended to Your throne of grace from Your people during their time of slavery in Egypt.
Light of the world, enlighten us, open our eyes, and show us in greater measure our destitution. You have promised to regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayers. Be gracious and merciful to us for Jesus' sake and for Your great name's sake among all the nations. Hear our groaning and our cry, and return again and appear in Your glory to build up Zion. ~ Psalm 102.
Remember Your covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remember Your covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, and look upon Your children, look upon Christ's bride, hear our groaning and our cry, and have respect to us, and rend the heavens and come down to deliver us.
Abba, Father, our Father in heaven, Behold, look down from heaven, and visit this vine and the vineyard You have planted –– "Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." ~ Isaiah 63:16. O! Lord our God, behold and visit Your Church today. You prophesied through Joseph that You would surely visit Your people (Ex. 13:19; Heb. 11:22-26), and just as You promised, You surely visited the children of Israel 400 years later (Ex. 3:16). O! God of hosts, You visited Sarah and Hannah as You said You would, and You have returned and visited Your barren Church many, many times in the past with refreshing and reviving showers from heaven as You heard Your people's groaning and cry. Today we humbly and importunately groan and cry unto You to return once again. Using the Psalmist's words in Psalm 80, we pray:
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
"God often comes for the salvation of his people when they have done looking for him. Shall he find faith? Luke xviii. 8."
~ Matthew Henry on Exodus 3:7-10."When God gives grace to souls, it is in answer to the prayers of His children. You will see this on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii.); Ezekiel xxxvii. 9 shows that in answer to the prayer of a single child of God, God will give grace to a whole valley full of dry and prayerless bones. Where God puts it into the heart of His children to pray, it is certain that He is going to pour down His Spirit in abundance..."
Robert Murray M'Cheyne in "Memoir and Remains..." (p. 247)
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* Please add your PRAYERS below as God's Holy Spirit leads you. *
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