Jesus was experiencing unanswered prayer

JESUS WAS EXPERIENCING UNANSWERED PRAYER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Psalm22:2 2My God, I cry out by day, but you do not
answer, by night, but I find no rest.
UNANSWERED PRAYER NO. 3344
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913 DELIVERED
BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTONON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1866
“O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearestnot; and in the night
season, andam not silent.” Psalm 22:2
IT is very clear to everyone who reads this Psalmthat these are not so much
the words of David as they are the words of David’s Sonand David’s Lord,
our blessedMaster. He prayed with strong crying and tears. He came before
His Father’s throne with supplications and for a long time it seemedas if He
would have no answer. It did appear as if God had utterly forsakenHim, and
that His enemies might persecute and take Him. Now, why was the Savior
permitted to pass through so sad an experience? How was it that He, whose
lightest word is prevailing with heaven, that He who pleads with divine
authority this day in His continual intercession, was permitted, when here
below, to cry, and cry, and cry again, and yet to receive no comforting
answer? Was it not mainly for this reason, that He was making an atonement
for us and He was not heard because we as sinners did not deserve to be

heard? He was not heard, that we might be heard. The ear of God was closed
againstHim for a season, thatit might never be closedagainstus, that forever
the mourner’s cry might find a way to the heart of God, because the cry of
Jesus was fora while shut out from mercy’s gate. He stoodthe surety for our
sins and was numbered with the transgressors. Upon Him the Lord laid the
iniquity of all His people and therefore, being the sinner’s representative, He
could not, for a while be heard. There was also, no doubt, another reason,
namely, that He might be a faithful High Priest having sympathy with His
people in all their woes. As this not being heard in prayer, or being
unansweredfor a while, is one of the greatesttroubles which canfall upon the
Christian, and fall it does, the Saviorhad to pass through that trouble, too,
that so it might be said of Him,
“In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows bore His part.”
When I fear that I have not been heard in prayer, I can now look upon my
Savior and say,
“He takes me through no darker rooms Than He went through before.”
He can now have a tender, touching sympathy with us, because He has been
tempted in all points like as we are. Was it not also, once more in our Savior’s
case, witha view to display the wondrous faith, fidelity, and trustfulness of the
obedient Son of God? Having been found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to His Father’s will. Now, obedience is not
perceiveduntil it is tried, and faith is not known to be firm and strong until it
is put to the testand exercised. Throughwhat an ordeal did this pure gold
pass!It was put into the crucible and thrust into the hottestcoals, allglowing
with a white heat, they were heapedupon Him, and yet no dross was found in
2 UnansweredPrayer Sermon #3344

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Him. His faith never staggered. His confidence in His God never degenerated
into suspicionand never turned aside into unbelief. It is, “My God! My God!”
even when He is forsaken. Itis, “My God and my strength” even when He is
poured out like waterand all His bones are out of joint. In this thing, He not
only sympathizes with us, you see, but He sets us an example. We must
overcome, as He did, through faith. “This is the victory which overcomes the
world, even your faith.” And if we can copy this greatHigh Priest of our
profession, who endured such contradiction of sinners againstHimself—if we
can copy Him so as to be neither faint in our minds, nor turn from our
Master’s work—weshalltriumph even as He overcame. Butmy chief object
in considering this theme is not so much to speak ofthe Savior’s trial, as to
address myself to those of our number who may even now be passing through
the same experience as our Lord. It will already comfortyou to know that
Christ has been where you are. It will already guide you to know that He has
setyou an example and that He bids you follow in His steps. Let us now draw
near to His sorrow and think on it for a while for our instruction and comfort.
In the first place, the text—without any inquiry into the cause ofunanswered
prayer, seems to give— I. A GENERALGUIDE FOR OUR CONDUCT.
Supposing that we have been seeking some blessing from God for many
months and have not obtained it? Whether it is a personalblessing or on
behalf of others, what ought to be our conductunder such a trial as that, the
trial of a long delay or an apparent refusal? In the first place, brethren, it is
clearthe text teaches us that we must not cease to trust God. “O my God.”
Oh! that appropriating word! It is not, perhaps, “My Father.” The spirit of
adoption is not here so much as the spirit of reverent trustfulness, but still
there is the hold-fast word still, “O my God.” Christian, never be tempted to
give up your hold upon your only strength, upon your solitary hope. Under no
conceivable circumstances, evergive place for an instant to the dark thought
that God is not true and faithful to His promises. Though you should have
sevenyears of unansweredprayer, yet suggestanyother reasonto your mind
than one which would dishonor Him. Say with the Saviorin this Psalm, “But
thou art holy.” Settle that in your mind. Oh! never suffer the faintest breath
of suspicion to come upon the fair fame of the MostHigh, for He does not

deserve it. He is true. He is faithful. In this apparently worstof all cases, He
did deliver His Son and come to the rescue in due time. In all other cases,He
has done the same, and I pray you never to distrust your God until you have
some goodand valid occasionfor it. Never casta slur upon His integrity till
He really does forsake you, till He absolutelygives you up to perish. Then, but
not till then, shall you doubt Him. Oh! believe Him to be goodand true! You
may not know why it is that He deals so strangelywith you, but oh! never
think that He is unfaithful for an instant or that He has broken His word.
Continue still to trust Him. You shall be rewarded if you do, and the longer
your faith is tried, it shall be with you as when the ship is longestout at sea, it
goes to the richestclimes, and comes home with the heaviestand most
precious freight. So shall your faith come back to you with joy. She may lie
among the pots for many a day, but the time of her deliverance shall come,
and like a dove, shall she mount, with wings coveredwith silver and her
feathers tipped with yellow gold. “Trustin the LORD at all times ye people,
and pour out your hearts before him.” Once again, as we are never to ceaseto
trust, so we are never to ceaseto pray. The text is very expressive upon this
point. “I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not: and in the night seasonsI
am not silent.” Never ceaseyour prayers. No time is ill for prayer. The glare
of daylight should not tempt you to cease, andthe gloomof midnight should
not make you stopyour cries. I know it is one of Satan’s chief objects to make
the Christian ceasepraying, for if he could but once make us put up the
weaponof all-prayer, he would easilyvanquish us and take us for his prey.
But so long as we continue to cry to the Most High, Satan knows he cannot
devour the very weakestlamb of the flock. Prayer, mighty prayer, will yet
prevail if it has but time.
Sermon #3344 UnansweredPrayer3
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Oh! if this is the dark suggestionofthe evil one, “Forsake the closet. Give up
private devotion. Neverdraw near to God, for prayer is all a fancy”—I pray
you, spurn the thought with all your might and still cry, both in the daytime
and at night, for the Lord will still hearyour prayer. And while you never
ceasefrom your trust, nor from your prayer, grow more earnestin both. Let

your faith be still more resolvedto give up all dependence anywhere but upon
God, and let your cry grow more and more vehement. It is not every knock at
mercy’s gate that will open it. He who would prevail must handle the knocker
well and dash it down again, and again, and again. As the old Puritan says,
“Coldprayers ask for a denial, but it is red-hot prayers which prevail.” Bring
your prayers as some ancient battering ram againstthe gate of heavenand
force it open with a sacredviolence, “for the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by storm.” He that would prevail with God
must take care that all his strength be thrust into his prayers. The Lord will
not hear you if you only bring up a rank or line of the array of your desires.
There must be no reserves, but the whole army of your soul must come into
the conflict, and you must beleaguerthe mercy seat, determined to win the
day, and then shall you prevail. If there are delays, take them as goodand
sound advice to be more firm in your faith, and more fervent in your cry.
And yet again, cease notto hope. The New Zealanderhas a word for hope
which signifies, “the swimming-thought,” because whenall other thoughts are
drowned, hope still swims. She lifts her head out of the foamy waves, with her
tresses alltrailing, but sees the blue heaven above her and hopes, as that is
there. So if you have prayed ever so long, yet hope on. “Hope thou in God, for
I shall yet praise him, who is the strength of my life, and my portion for ever.”
As long as there is a place of prayer and a promise of an answer, no believer
ought to give way to despair. “Go again,” saidElijah to his servant seven
times. It must have been weary work to the prophet to have to wait so long.
He did not stand up once and pray to God as on Carmel, and then instantly
came down the fire to continue the sacrifice, but againand again, and getting
more humble in posture, with his face betweenhis knees, he beseeches the
Lord, not for fire, which was an unusual thing, but for water, which is the
common boon of the skies. And yet, though he pleads for that which the Lord
Himself had promised, yet it did not at once come, and when his servant came
back, four, five, six times, the answerwas still the same. There was no sign of
rain, but the brazen heavens lookeddown on an earth which was parchedas if
in an oven. “Go again!” said the prophet, and at the seventhtime, lo! there
appearedthe cloud like unto a man’s hand and this cloud was the sure
forerunner of the deluge and storm. Christian, go againseven times. Nay, I
will venture to sayseventy times seven, for God must keepHis promise.

Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of JEHOVAH’s
word can fail. “The grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth away, but the
word of our God endureth for ever.” Do you plead that enduring word? Let
no dark thoughts drive you to despair. Continue to trust. Continue to pray.
Increase in your fervency and in the hope that the blessing will yet come. It
did come to the Savior. The morning broke upon His midnight after all. Never
tide ebbed out so far as in the Savior’s case, whenthe greatstretches of misery
and sorrow were visible where once God’s love had rolled in mighty floods.
But when the time came, it began to turn, and see how it has turned now in
mighty floods of matchless joy. The love of God has come back to our once
suffering Savior and there upon the eternal throne He sits, the Man, the
Crucified, who bowedHis head under mountains of almighty wrath, which
broke in huge billows and coveredHis soul. Be of goodcourage, Christian!
Hope on, poor soul, and hope on forever. Thus much by way of general
direction. But we now go on to a secondpoint and shall inquire into— II. THE
CAUSES OF UNANSWERED PRAYER. We shall, perhaps, on this theme,
get a few specialdirections which may be available in particular cases.Dear
friends, there are some of us who are not often troubled about unanswered
prayer—on the
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contrary, our ownexperience is such that the existence ofa God who hears
His people’s cry is reduced to an absolute, mathematicalcertainty. I have no
more doubt about this than about my own existence, not because I cansee it
clearly and understand it perfectly, nor because with a blind credulity I
submit myself to the Bible as being the infallible revelationof God. But
because I have had realdealings with God, have tried and proved His
promises to be true, and have found out that according to my faith, it has been
done unto me in a thousand instances. This is truth that those who have
learned to live in the spirit-world, and to talk with God, understand and know
as plainly as they understand and know that when a child speaks to its father,
its father grants its request. It has become to many believers, not at all a
matter to be argued or talked of by way of dispute. They know that they have

fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and their prayers
are answered. Butoccasionally, to all believers, I suppose, there will come
staggering moments when they scarcelyknow how to reply to their doubts,
because certainof their prayers have not been answered. It may possibly
happen that the cause of unansweredprayer may many times lie in something
connectedwith sin. Do you not think that unansweredprayers are often a
Fatherly chastisementfor our offenses?The Savior, in that wonderful chapter
where He tells out His love to us, says, “If ye keepmy commandments, ye shall
abide in my love,” and then He notes, as a specialfavor, if a man abide in His
love and keepHis commandments, he “shallask what he will and it shall be
done unto him.” Now it seems to me to be only reasonable that if I will not do
what God wills, God will refuse to do what I will, that if He asks ofme a
certain duty and I refuse it, when I ask Him for a certainprivilege or favor, it
is not unkind, but on the other hand, most wise and kind, that He should say,
“No, My child, no. If you will not listen to My tender command, it is kind to
refuse you your desire until you do repent and obey.” Perhaps this is the way
in which, too, are visited upon God’s people some neglects ofordinances. “He
that knowethhis Master’s willand doeth it not, the same shall be beatenwith
many stripes.” And one of these stripes may surely be our non-successin
prayer. It may also be temporal affliction, but probably this is one of the main
ways in which the Masterinflicts the stripes upon His children. They are
negligentof His commands and He says, “Thenyou shall tarry awhile. I will
not yet grant you what you seek. Butwhen you come to a better mind, and are
more scrupulous and tender in the fulfilling of My commands, then your
longings shall be satisfied.” It may occur, too, that this delay may be a sort of
disclosure to us as to wherein our sin lies. Sin sometimes lies in a Christian
unrepented of, because he only dimly realizes that it is there. Hear what Job
declares, “Are the consolations ofGod small with thee? Is there any secret
thing with thee?” That is to say, if you love selfishease and feeble comforting,
if you do not prevail with God in prayer, is there some secretsin in you which
keeps back the blessing? Goddoes, as it were, sayto us, “Searchandlook.”
Unansweredprayer should be to every Christian a searchwarrant, and he
should begin to examine himself to see whether there be not something
harbored within which is contrary to the will of God. Oh! believer, this is not
a hard work for you to do, surely, but it is a very necessaryone. Search

yourself and breathe the prayer, “Searchme, O God, and try me, and know
my ways, and see if there be any evil wayin me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.” I think this is one greatreasonfor unansweredprayer, namely,
that it is a chastisementfor sin committed or an admonition againstsin
harbored. Sometimes there may be greatsin in the prayer itself. Are not our
greatestsins often connectedwith our holiest things? We must be aware of
our prayers. There is such a thing as polluting the mercy seat. Remember
what became of Nadab and Abihu, who offeredstrange fire before the Lord.
Beware, Christian, beware, you may sin againstGod in the prayer chamber,
as well as you can in the marketand you may offend on your knees, as well as
when you are in your business. Have a care, for how canyou
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hope that a prayer thus stained with sin canever succeed, unless you bring it
to the blood to have it purged and cleansedfrom all defiling before it mounts
to the throne of grace? And I sometimes fear, too, that our prayers do not
speed, because the thing askedfor, though as we think goodfor us, is asked
for from a wrong motive. If, for instance, a Christian minister asks thathe
may win souls in order that he may gain reputation and fame as a useful and
successfulevangelistfor his Master, he will probably not be heard, for he asks
from an unworthy motive. If I seek to be useful merely that I may be knownto
be a useful man or woman, I am really seeking my own honor, and can I
expectGod to minister to and pamper that? I must take care, then, that even
when I ask for a goodthing, I ask it for the purest of reasons, viz., for God’s
glory. Oh! what washing even our prayers need! What cleansing, what
purging! Can we wonderthat they do not succeedwhenwe so often make
mistakes, both in the substance ofthe prayers and the motives from which we
offer them? Praying seems, to some persons, to be simply a child’s play or a
formal habit. They will take a book, read a form of intercession, and perhaps
offer a few extemporary words, and that is all. But these are all naught and
naughty prayers, unless God shall touch them and give them life. Sometimes,
then, non-successin prayer may be causedby sin. In such a case, heart-
searching, deeprepentance, and especiallya speedygoing to the cross to have

renewedfellowship with the cleansing blood, and to be brought once more in
contactwith the holy sufferings of the blessedSubstitute, will make us speed.
But we go on to notice that non-success in prayer may sometimes be the result
of ignorance. I think persons often offer very ignorant prayers indeed. I am
sure I have goodevidence that some do. There is scarcelyevera week passes
in which I do not receive intelligence from different persons who are on the
verge of bankruptcy or deeply in debt, that they have prayed to God about it,
and that they have been guided by God to write to me to getthem out of their
difficulties and to pay their debts. Now, I am always perfectly willing to do so
as soonas everI am directed expresslyby God Himself, but I shall not receive
the direction at secondhand. As soonas I receive it myself—and I think it is
only fair that I should receive it, as well as they—I shall be quite willing to be
obedient to His direction, provided, too, the funds are in hand, which does not
often happen. But folks must be very foolish to suppose that because they ask
God that such-and-such a debt may be paid by miraculous means, it will
certainly be done. I have a right to ask for anything which God has promised
me, but if I go beyond the range of the divine promises, I also go beyond the
range of assuredand confident expectation. The promises are very large and
very wide, but when one gets a fancy in his head, he must not suppose that
God is there, in his fancy. I have known some fanaticalpersons who thought
they could live by faith. They were going to preachthe Gospel, having no gifts
whateverfor preaching. They were going to be missionaries in a district
having no more gift to be missionaries than horses in a plough. But they
thought they were destined to do it and therefore, they tried to live by faith,
and when they had been nearly half-starved, then they complained againstthe
goodness andabandoned the labor. Had God really inspired and sent them,
He would have sustainedand kept them, but if they go about it willfully and
stubbornly on their own account, they must be driven back to realize their
own ignorance of the divine will. Now, we must not pray ignorantly, we must
pray with the understanding and with the spirit, so that we may clearly know
what we are praying about. Get the promise and then offer the prayer, and
the prayer will be answeredas sure as God is God. But get your own fancy
into your head and you will only have to get it out again, for it will be of no
service to you. And then oftentimes, we pray in a way in which our prayers
could not be heard consistentwith the dignity of the MostHigh. I love a holy

familiarity with God and I believe it to be commendable, but still, man is but
man, while God is God, and howeverfamiliar we may be with Him in our
hearts, still we must recollectthe distance there is betweenthe MostHigh and
the most elevatedand most beloved of His creatures, and we are not to speak
as though it were in our powerto do as we will and as we please.
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No, we are children, but we are to remember that children have a limit as to
how they are to speak to their father. Their love may come as near as they
please, but their impertinence may not, and we must mind that we do not
mistake the familiarity of communion for the impudence of presumption. We
must be careful to distinguish betweenthe two, for he who is taught of God
and waits upon Him according to His own mind, will find, as a generalrule,
that he will not be long without an answerto his prayer. Now, if it be
ignorance that thus prevents the answering of your prayers, you should get
better instructed, and searchespeciallyinto such texts as bear upon the
matter of prayer, that you may know how to use your private key of heaven
and open the sacredportals, the gate of the divine mercy, for ignorance will
often make you to fail. Again, does it not often happen that there may be
reasons fordelay lying in our owninfirmity? Sometimes, if a mercy were to
come to a believer immediately when he askedfor it, it would come too soon,
but God times it until it appears only at the right and bestmoment. When a
gracious godlysoul has been much exercisedin his mind concerning a special
mercy, has studied it, weighedit, arrived at a proper apprehensionof it, and
arrangedhis plans for its proper use and benefit, then—just at the time that
the barn was sweptand all the lumber takenout, then God’s harvest of
bounty comes home and the man being quite ready for the blessing, the
blessing came. Perhaps you are not yet ready for the blessing. You have asked
for strong meat, but you are but as yet a babe, and therefore you are to be
content with milk for a little while longer. You have askedfor a man’s trials,
and a man’s privileges, and a man’s work, but you are as yet only a child
growing up into manhood and your good Fatherwill give you what you ask
for, but He will give it to you in such a way as to make it not a burden to you,

but a boon. If it came now, it might involve responsibilities which you could
not overtake, but coming by-and-by, you shall be well-prepared for it. There
are reasons,too, I doubt not, which lie in our future, why our prayers are not
answered. Delays in prayer may turn out to be a sortof training schoolfor us.
Take the apostle’s instance. The “thorn in the flesh” was very painful, and
though he was a chosenapostle, yethe had no answer. Thrice he cried, but
still the “thorn in the flesh” was not removed. It was well that it was not, for
Paul needed to be taught tenderness, in order that he might write those loving
epistles of his, and therefore he receivedan answerof another sort, “My grace
is sufficient for thee.” Oh! Christian! If you could get rid of the trouble in
which you now are, you would not be able to comfortpoor mourners, as you
shall yet do. You would not be a full grown, strong man, if you had not these
stern trials to developyour manly vigor. Men do not learn to be intrepid
sailors by staying on dry land. You are to put out to sea in the midst of the
storm, that you may learn how to manage and guide the vesselof your soul.
You are going through a rough drill, that you may be a valiant and stalwart, a
goodsoldier of Jesus Christ, for battles are yet to come, and grim foes yet to
face, for you have many fightings betweennow and the blessedactive ease of
heaven. You have not yet won the crown, but you will have to cut your way
inch by inch and foot by foot, and the Masteris making you an athlete, that
wrestling with your enemies you may overcome. He is strengthening your
muscles and tendons, thews and sinews, by the arduous exercise of
unansweredprayer, that you may be finely useful in the future. Still, yet
again, perhaps the reasonwhy prayer is not always quickly answeredis this—
a reasonwhich no tongue can tell, but which is inscrutable lying in the
sovereignpurposes and wisdom of God. Now, see!If I cannot tell why God
does not hear me, what must I say? I had better saynaught, but put my finger
on my lips and wait. Who am I that I should question Him as to what He
does? Who am I that I should arraign my Makerbefore my bar, and say unto
Him, “Whatdoestthou?” Almighty Potter, You have a right to do as You will
with Your own clay! We have learned to submit to Your will, not because we
must, but because we love that will, feeling that Your will is the highest good
of Your creatures and the sublimest wisdom. Why should we be so anxious to
know the depth of the sea, which cannotbe fathomed by our line? Why must
we be toiling to heave the lead so often?

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Leave these things with God, and go on with your praying and your believing,
and all shall yet be well with you. And now I conclude this point by saying
that if the Christian, after looking into the matter, cannot find a reasonwhy
he should not be answered, lethim still expectthat he shall be, and wait still
upon God, remembering, however, that he may never be answeredafter his
own fashion, but that he shall be answeredafterGod’s fashion. I like that
verse of old Erskine’s, for though rough and quaint, it is true,
“I’m heard when answeredsoonorlate; Yea, heard when I no answerget;
Yea, kindly answeredwhen refused, And treated well when hardly used.”
In heaven every believer will realize how greatwas this truth and so here I
leave it. And now, to conclude, I thought I would say a few words upon a very
specialcase whichmay occur, and which may be here representedthis
evening. I have no doubt that it is in more than one instance. It was once my
case. It is not the case ofa Christian asking a boon for himself, but it is the
case ofa sinner, conscious ofhis danger as a sinner, asking for mercy.
Brethren and sisters, it was a very unhappy lot to have to seek the Lord, with
such earnestnessas I could command as a child for four or five years with
sighs, and cries, and entreaties, but to have no comfortable answer
whatsoever, to be as one that choosesstrangling rather than life, because ofa
sense ofGod’s angerin my soul. To desire reconciliation, to live in the midst
of Gospellight, and to hear the truth preached every Sabbath day, indeed
every day in the week aftera fashion, and yet not to discover the way to
heaven. Now, sometimes it is not goodadvice to say to such a person, Go on
praying. It is goodadvice. I must correctmyself there, but it is not the best
advice in such a case. Soul, if you have been seeking mercyand you cannot
find it, go on praying by all means, never relax that, but it is not by that that
you will ever get peace. The business of your soul is to listen to Christ’s

command and His command is containedin the Gospel, which Gospelis not,
“Go ye into all the world and tell every creature to pray,” but it is, “He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Now, yourbusiness is to pray,
certainly, but your first business is to believe. Your prayers before you believe
have but little weightin them. Unbelieving prayers! Shall I callthem prayers?
Prayers without faith! They are birds without wings, ships without sails, and
beasts without legs. Prayers that have no faith in Christ in them are prayers
without the blood on them. They are deeds without the signature, without the
seal, without the stamp—they are impotent, illegaldocuments. Oh! if you
could but come as you are and look to Christ on the cross!It is not your
prayers that cansave you, it is Christ’s prayers, and Christ’s tears, and
Christ’s sufferings, and Christ’s blood, and Christ’s death. If you trust to
your prayers, you have gone back to the old beggarlyelements of the law. You
might as welltrust to your goodworks as to your prayers, and to trust either
will be to rest in “a refuge of lies.” Your hope, sinner, lies in the altogether
gratuitous mercy of God, and that mercy only comes to those who restin
Jesus Christ alone, waiting patiently for Him. Oh! that you could but come
just as you are and lay yourself at mercy’s door, with such a word as this on
your lips,
“My hope is fixed on nothing else Than Jesus’bloodand righteousness.”
There are no doings of yours needed to complete the work. Nay! I venture to
say, not even any praying of yours. Your praying and your doings shall each
occupy their proper place afterwards, and then they shall be essentialin their
way, but now, as a sinner, your business is with the sinner’s Savior.
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If you are now enabled to look completelyout of self and see all that your flesh
can do as dead and buried forever in the grave of Christ, and as being naught
and worse than naught, and if you can see Jesus, the mighty Savior,

distributing the gifts which He has receivedfor men, even distributing them to
the rebellious—ifyou can thus trust Him, you are saved. What do you say,
sinner? Are you enabled to do it now? Can you now fall flat before His cross?
Oh! the happy day when I learned that I was no longerto look to self, but
found that the Gospelwas, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth.” Many of you have looked, brethren and sisters!Look againto that
sacredhead once wounded, and filled with pain and grief, but which now is
crownedwith glory! Look and renew your vow of dedication, and He will lift
you up to be above the angels, and only secondto God Himself. Oh! look
now! And as to you who have never lookedbefore, I pray the Masterto open
your blind eyes and cause the scalesto drop, so that you may look now, and
while you look, may see everything you want laid up for you in Jesus.
Everything a sinner needs canbe richly supplied by Him, and then the sinner
can go his wayrejoicing and singing, “Christ is all, and happy am I that I
have sought and found Him.” The Lord bless you all for His name’s sake.
Amen
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
From Darkness To Light; Or, The Song Of The Early Dawn
Psalm22:1-31
C. Clemance
This is one of the most wonderful of all the psalms. It has gatheredround it
the study of expositors of most diverse types - from those who see in it scarcely
aught but a description beforehand of the Messiah'ssuffering and glory, to
those who see in it scarcelyany Messianicreference atall, and who
acknowledge onlyone sense in which even the term "Messianic"is to be

tolerated, even in the factthat light gleams forth after the darkness. Both
these extreme views should be avoided, and we venture to ask for the careful
and candid attention of the reader, as we move along a specific path in the
elucidation of this psalm. The title of the psalm is significant; literally, it
reads, "To the chief musician [or, 'precentor'] upon Aijeleth Shahar [or, 'the
hind of the morning,' margin]. A Psalmof David" We accentthe heading,
here and elsewhere"a Psalmof David," unless adequate reasonto the
contrary can be shown. But what can be the meaning of the expression," the
hind of the morning"? A reference to Furst's Lexicon will be found helpful.
The phrase is a figurative one, and signifies, "the first light of the morning."
In this psalm we see the light of early morn breaking forth after the deepest
darkness of the blackestnight. Hence the title given above to this homily. But
then the question comes - Whose is the darkness, and whose is the light? We
reply - Primarily, the writer's, whoeverhe may have been, whether David or
any other Old Testamentsaint. For the psalm is not written in the third
person, as is the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. There is no room here for the
question, "Of whom speakeththe prophet this? of himself, or of some other
man?" In Isaiah53. the reference is to another; in this psalm the wail is
declaredto be the writer's own. Yet we have to take note of the factthat in the
New Testamentthere are some seven or eight references to this psalm in
which its words and phrases are applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are
other phrases in the psalm which were literally true of our Lord, but yet are
not quoted in the New Testament. We do not wonder at Bishop Perowne's
remark. "Unnatural as I cannothelp thinking that interpretation is which
assumes that the psalmist himself never felt the sorrows whichhe describes... I
hold that to be a far worse errorwhich sees here no foreshadowing ofChrist
at all. Indeed, the coincidence betweenthe sufferings of the psalmist and the
sufferings of Christ is so remarkable, that it is very surprising that any one
should deny or question the relation betweenthe type and the antitype." To a
like effectare the devout and thoughtful words of Orelli, "What the psalmist
complains of in mere figurative, though highly colouredterms, befell the Son
of God in veritable fact. Herein we see the objective connection, establishedof
setpurpose by God's providence, which so framed even the phrasing of the
pious prayer, that without knowledge ofthe suppliant it became prophecy,
and againso controlled even what was outward and seeminglyaccidentalin

the history of Jesus, that the old prophetic oracles appearincorporatedin it."
There is no reasonto think, on the one hand, that the writer was a mere
machine, nor yet, on the other, that he fully knew the far-reaching significance
of the words he used. And this leads us to a remark which we make once for
all, that there are two senses in which psalms may be Messianic - direct and
indirect.
1. Direct. In these the reference is exclusively to the Messiah;every phrase is
true of him, and of him alone, and cannot be so translated as not to apply to
him, nor so that it can, as a whole, apply to any one else. The fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah, and also the secondand hundred and tenth psalms are
illustrations of this.
2. Indirect. In these the first meaning is historical, and applies to the writer
himself; but many phrases therein have a secondand far-reaching intent; of
these the fullest application is to him who was David's Sonand yet David's
Lord. The psalm before us is an illustration of this indirect Messianic
structure; and this not only, perhaps not so much, because in the first writing
of the words the Spirit of God pointed forward to Christ, as because ourLord
himself, having takena human nature, and shared human experiences, found
himself the partaker of like sorrows with the Old Testamentsaints, plunged
into like horrible darkness, whichfound expressionin the very same words,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsakenme?" Mr. Spurgeon, indeed,
admits some possible application to David himself, but says that believers will
scarcelycare to think of his sufferings; they will rather fastentheir gaze on
those of their Lord. That is true, in a very touching sense. At the same time,
we shall lose much of the comfort the psalm is adapted to afford, if we do not
look very distinctly at the sufferings of David, in order to see, with equal
distinctness, how completelyour Lord shared his "brethren's" sorrows,
darkness, and groans, whenhe took up their burdens and made them his own.
Let us therefore deal with this psalm in a twofold outline - first, as it applies to
the writer; and then as it it taken up by the Lord Jesus, and made his own
(with such exceptions as that named in the first footnote below).
I. ISRAEL'S KING PASSES THROUGHDEEPESTDARKNESS TO THE
LIGHT. Here let us answerby anticipation a remark with which we have

frequently met, to the effectthat we cannot fastenon any incident in the
careerof David which would lead to such extreme anguish as that indicated
here. Who that has any knowledge ofthe horrors to which sensitive souls are
liable, could raise any difficulty over this? Far more depends on subjective
condition than on outward incident. Why, the saints of God now do pass
through times of indescribable anguish, of which no outward incident affords
even a glimmer of explanation. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness." Let
the outer occasionhave been whatsoeverit may, here at any rate is:
1. A saint in terrible darkness. In the midst of his woe, he remembers his
transgressions, andit may have been, as is so often the case, that the writer
attributes his anguish to his numberless transgressions (ver. 1, LXX.). The
details of his intensity of sorrow are manifold.
(1) Prayer rises from his heart day and night without relief (ver. 2).
(2) He is despised(vers. 6-8). His enemies laugh and mock.
(3) His foes, wild, fierce, ravenous, plot his ruin (vers. 12, 13).
(4) His strength is spent with sorrow (ver. 15).
(5) There are eageranticipations of his speedily being removed out of the way
(ver. 18).
(6) And, worstof all, it seems as if God, his own God, whom he had trusted
from childhood (vers. 9,10),
had now forsakenhim, and given him up to his foes. How many suffering
saints may find solace in this psalm, as they see how God's people have
suffered before them? Surely few could have a heavier weight of woe than the
writer of this plaintive wail2 The woe is freely told to God There may be the
stinging memory of bygone sin piercing the soul, still the psalmist cleaves to
his God.
(1) The heart still craves for God; even in the dark; yea, the more because of
the darkness.

(2) Hence the abandonment is not actual. Howeverdense the gloommay be,
when the soul cancry, "My God," we may be sure the cry is not
unreciprocated.
(3) Such a cry will surely be heard. Pastdeliverances assure us of this. Yea,
even ere the wail in the dark is over, the light begins to dawn. "One Sunday
morning," said Mr. Spurgeon, in an address at Mildmay Hall, June 26, 1890,
reported in the Christian of July 4, "I preachedfrom the text, 'My God, my
God, why hast thou forsakenme?' I could not tell why I should be made to
preach it. I felt while preaching as if I were myself forsaken. Onthe sabbath
evening, there came into the vestry a man of about sixty, whose eyes were
bright with a strange lustre. He took my hand, and held it, and cried. He said
to me, 'Nobody everpreached my experience before. I have now been for
years left, deserted, in a horrible gloom of greatdarkness;but this morning I
learned that I was not the only man in the darkness, and I believe I shall get
out!' I said, ' Yes; I have got out; but now I know why I was put in.' That man
was brought back from the depths of despair, and restoredto joy and peace.
There was a child of God, dying in darkness. He said to the minister who
spoke with him, 'Oh, sir, though I have trusted Christ for years, I have lost
him now. What canbecome of. a man who dies feeling that God has deserted
him?' The minister replied, ' What did become of that Man who died saying,"
My God, my God, why hast thou forsakenme?" Is he not on the highest
throne of glory even now? 'The man's mind changedin a moment, and he
beganto say, ' Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit;' and he died in
peace.
3. The light dawns at last. The everlasting covenant" does not fail; it has been
"orderedin all things," and remains sure and steadfast;and oftentimes, even
while the saint is on his knees, he will scarce have ended his groaning 'ere his
sigh is turned to a song (cf. Psalm27:12-14). Hence the last ten verses ofthe
psalm are as joyous as the others are sad. "The darkesthour is before the
dawn," and the brightness of morning shall chase awaythe gloomof night. So
it is here.

(1) The saint who takes his groans to God alone, shall yet sing his praises in
the assemblies ofthe saints. Having told the rest to his God, he will "give
others the sunshine."
(2) The rehearsalof this story shall be the joy of other hearts in day to come
(vers. 25-27).
(3) The outcome of all will be that God will vindicate his own honour, and that
the generationyet unborn will praise him and declare his righteousness.
II. WORDS OF A SUFFERING SAINT ARE APPROPRIATED BYA
SUFFERING SAVIOUR. The Lord Jesus Christ, in all things "made like unto
his brethren," takes up words from this psalm into his own lips. If we were
dealing only with the Messianic aspectofthe psalm, we should open it up in
the following order:
(1) The Saviour's suffering.
(2) The Saviour's inquiry: "Why?"
(3) The Saviour's joy.
Since, however, we are seeking to expound the psalm in both its aspects, we
rather indicate four lines of thought, the pursuing of which will throw light on
the wonderof the appropriation of the words of a suffering saint by a
suffering Saviour; while some look at the fierce cry with which this psalm
beans as intended to setforth the woes ofthe coming Messiah, thatcry seems
to us far more touching when we find that our dear Redeemeruses the words
of an ancientsufferer as his own! Observe:
1. There is no depth of sorrow through which the saint can pass, but Jesus
understands it all. How many causes ofwoe are enumerated here! But in all
points Jesus felt the same. The writer endured
(1) the cutting remarks of many;
(2) weakness;
(3) reproach and scorn;

(4) the plotting of foes;
(5) the treacheryof friends; and, worstof all,
(6) the sense ofseparationform God.
Every one of these forms of hardship and ill pressedsorely on Jesus;and
though we may meditate continuously and with ever-deepening wonder on
eachof them, yet all the rest fade awayinto insignificance comparedwith the
anguish that arose from the hiding of the Father's face. Every trouble canbe
borne when the Father is seento smile; but when his face is hidden in a total
eclipse, whatdarkness canbe so dreadful as that? There was, as it were, a
hiding of the face from him (Isaiah 53:3). Let those saints of God who have to
pass through seasons ofprolonged mental anguish remember that, however
severe the conflict may be, the Saviour has passedthrough one still more
terrible than theirs.
2. If even the saint asks "why?" evenso did the Saviour. The "why?"
however, applies only to the opening words - to the hiding of God's face.
There may be mystery therein, even when (as in the case of every saint) there
are transgressions to be bemoaned. But our Saviour has an unfathomable
woe, "yetwithout sin. The why?" then, imperatively requires an answer. In
the tire, at the faggot, and at the stake, martyrs have sung for joy. Why is it
that at the moment of direst need the sinless Sufferershould have felt aught so
dreadful as abandonment by God? Notthat the abandonment was real. The
Father never loved the Sonmore than when he hung bleeding on the cross.
But our Saviour endured the sense ofit. Why was this? He did not deserve it.
But he had laden himself with our burden. "The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquities of us all." Nor do we know that we can put the pith and essenceof
the atonementin fewer words than these:
(1) sin separates fromGod;
(2) Jesus bore our sin; therefore
(3) Jesus endured the sense of separation.

We canunderstand that, coming as Man into the midst of a sinful race, all the
suffering which a holy nature must endure in conflict with sinful men would
be his. But the sense of desertion by God while doing his Father's will canonly
be accountedfor by the amazing factthat "he sent his Son to be the
Propitiation for our sins."
3. In passing through his manifold experience of sorrow, the Saviour learned
to suffer with the saint, and was being made perfect as the Captain of
salvation. (Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 5:2, 7, 8, 9.) Our Saviour was
(1) to lead many sons unto glory;
(2) to be One who could sympathize, soothe, and succourin every case ofwoe
(Hebrews 2:18);
(3) to be One who by his sympathetic powercould inspire his hosts;and
(4) to teachthem that, as they were destined to follow him in his heavenly
glory, they must not be surprised if they have first to follow him in the
pathway of woe. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above
his Lord." Objection:"But how can the sympathy of Jesus with me be
perfect? He was without sin, and I am not. So the parallel fails." Goodpeople
who urge this objectionforgetthat it is the presence ofsin in eachof us which
makes our sympathy with eachother so imperfect. BecauseJesus waswithout
sin, he candraw the line exactlybetweendefects that are due to infirmity and
such as are traceable to sin. The secondhe forgives;the first be pities. Is not
this the very perfection of sympathy?
III. THE WORDS OF THE SAINT EMERGING FROM HIS GLOOM ARE
APPROPRIATE TO THE SAVIOUR IN HIS EXALTATION AND
TRIUMPH. With the Saviour, as with the psalmist, the darkestnight was the
prelude to the brightness of day. The brightness which marks the last ten
verses of the psalm is a declarationthat the kingdom of David shall be
establishedfor ever and ever, and that, though David may have to pass
through fire and flood, his kingdom shall abide through age after age;and
thus we find the phraseologyofthese verses applied to the after-careerof
David's Son and David's Lord in Hebrews 2:11, 12. Whence five points invite

attention. The Holy Ghost, inditing the psalmist's words so that they forecast
the issue of Messiah's sufferings as wellas his own, shows us our Saviour
(1) emerging from the conflict;
(2) joining with his people in songs of rejoicing;
(3) declaring the Father's Name to his "brethren;"
(4) gathering home the severedtribes of mankind;
(5) bringing in the victorious kingdom (vers. 21-31).
It is not, it is not for nought that the Messiahendured all his woe (Isaiah
53:11;Hebrews 12:1, 2; Philippians 2:11). It behoved him to suffer, and then
"to enter into his glory." And as with the Master, so with the servant. "If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him." He hath said, "Where I am, there shall
also my servant be." Following him in sharing his cross, we shall follow him in
sharing his crown. - C.
Biblical Illustrator

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearestnot; and in the night season,
and am not silent.
Psalm22:2
Why so many prayers art unanswered
Bishop Stevens.
Our prayers often fail of success —
I. BECAUSE OF WANT OF FAITH. There are a multitude of prayers
offered to God with something like this feeling: "Well, perhaps God will hear
and answer;perhaps not. At any rate, I may as well pray; and if the answer
comes, well:if not, I at leasthave done my duty." Now, such a feeling as this,
though it be not positive infidelity, is so near to it as to be most offensive to
God, and can only bring forth His severe displeasure. The matter of prayer is
one thing, the manner of prayer is another. If the manner of presenting our
prayer is right, and the matter wrong, then, of course, will it miscarry. If the
matter is right and the manner wrong, the prayer is likewise fruitless of good.
II. BECAUSE WE EVINCE A PRACTICAL UNBELIEF IN GOD'S
ABILITY TO GRANT US OUR REQUESTS.We actas if probabilities
affectedGod as they do us: we measure His ability by our own. We do not
remember that "with God nothing is impossible."
III. THE INDULGENCE OF SOME ONE OR MORE KNOWN SINS. Do we
not read, "If I regardiniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me." To
pray, and yet to commit wilful sin, or still to pursue a course of secretor open
iniquity, is not only mocking God with lip service, but is also acting with
hypocrisy, professing one thing but doing another. A praying spirit and a
sinning heart cannot dwell together.
IV. REMISSNESSIN THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR CHRISTIAN DUTY.
This tendency in the minds of many to divorce prayer from all the
instrumentalities which God has connectedwith its being answeredis one
fruitful source of evil, and a cause why so many prayers are uttered in vain.
To illustrate this: suppose that you are threatened with shipwreck — the

storm rages fearfully, the vesselis dashed upon the rocks and is broken up,
every hope of escapeseems gone,and in the extremity of your distress you cry
unto God to save you from this threateneddeath! But how do you expectHe
will save you? — by a miracle? — by bearing you through the air and landing
you safelyon the shore? Or do you not rather look for an answerto your
prayer by means of human agency, and by physical and natural
instrumentality? — by a lifeboat, by a cable fastenedto the rock, by the
buoying up of some part of the wreck until it is washedupon the beach. And
suppose that, having prayed to God for succour, you yet refuse to use the
instrumentality which, in answerto your prayer, He has furnished for your
safety. You decline to getinto the lifeboat, or object to be drawn ashore by a
rope, or will not commit yourself to some means provided for your escape:
can you be saved? Godansweredyour prayer, not by giving you
instantaneouslythe end desired, but by giving you means adequate to secure
that end; and if you refused the means you could not expectthe end. So with
spiritual blessings. Godanswers us through the instrumentality of duties; and
we find the end we desire when we use the means He has enjoined. Another
reasonwhy our prayers are not answeredis —
V. BECAUSE WE DO NOT PERSEVEREIN PRAYER. One other way in
which we ask and receive not, because we ask amiss, is —
VI. BY ASKING THINGS WHICH DO NOT ACCORD WITH GOD'S
PURPOSES OF DISCIPLINE OR MERCY. We must not forget the great
truth, that God uses this world as a schoolof discipline, to fit us for a holier
state above. In this state trials, disappointments, etc., are the necessary
instruments whereby our souls are purged and fitted for heaven. Yet we often
pray that God would relieve us from this trial, that He would exempt us from
this threatenedaffliction; but in His infinite wisdom He knows that to grant
these requests would be productive of evil rather than good, as it is "in the
furnace of affliction" that Godoften chooses His saints, and "through much
tribulation that they enter into the kingdom of heaven."
(Bishop Stevens.)

Prayers which are not answered
John Trapp.
They that have conduit watercome into their houses, if no watercome they do
not conclude the spring to be dry, but the pipes to be stopped or broken. If
prayer speednot, we must be sure that the fault is not in God, but in
ourselves;were we but ripe for mercy, He is ready to extend it to us, and even
waits for the purpose.
(John Trapp.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(2) And am not silent.—This misses the parallelism, which evidently requires
“O my God, I cry in the daytime, and thou answerestnot; in the night, and
find no repose.”
BensonCommentary
Psalm22:2. I cry in the day-time, &c. — I continue praying night and day
without intermission; but thou hearestnot — St. Paul says, Hebrews 5:7, that
Christ was heard in that he feared. Christ therefore here says that his Father
heard him not, only to intimate that he did not exempt him from suffering the
death of the cross, forwhich the Father, who heard him always, had wise
reasons, takenfrom the end for which his Sonbecame incarnate, John 12:27.
And am not silent — Hebrew, I have no silence, no rest, or quietness, as the
word ‫,הימוד‬ dumijah, here used, is sometimes rendered.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-10 The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm,
clearly and fully, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. We
have a sorrowfulcomplaint of God's withdrawings. This may be applied to
any child of God, presseddown, overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual
desertions are the saints'sorestafflictions;but even their complaint of these
burdens is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual sensesexercised. To cry our,
My God, why am I sick? why am I poor? savours of discontentand
worldliness. But, Why hast thou forsakenme? is the language ofa heart
binding up its happiness in God's favour. This must be applied to Christ. In
the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he
was upon the cross, Mt 27:46. Being truly man, Christ felt a natural
unwillingness to pass through such greatsorrows, yethis zealand love
prevailed. Christ declaredthe holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his
sharpestsufferings; nay, declaredthem to be a proof of it, for which he would
be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they
received. Neverany that hoped in thee, were made ashamedof their hope;
never any that soughtthee, sought thee in vain. Here is a complaint of the
contempt and reproachof men. The Saviour here spoke ofthe abjectstate to
which he was reduced. The history of Christ's sufferings, and of his birth,
explains this prophecy.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
O my God, I cry in the daytime - This, in connectionwith what is said at the
close ofthe verse, "and in the night-season,"means that his cry was incessant
or constant. See the notes at Psalm1:2. The whole expressiondenotes that his
prayer or cry was continuous, but that it was not heard. As applicable to the
Redeemerit refers not merely to the moment when he uttered the cry as
statedin Psalm22:1, but to the continuous sufferings which he endured as if
forsakenby Godand men. His life in generalwas of that description. The
whole series of sorrows and trials through which he passedwas as if he were
forsakenby God; as if he uttered a long continuous cry, day and night, and
was not heard.
But thou hearestnot - Thou dost not "answer" me. It is as if my prayers were
not heard. God "hears" everycry; but the answerto a prayer is sometimes

withheld or delayed, as if he did not hear the voice of the suppliant. Compare
the notes at Daniel 10:12-13. So it was with the Redeemer. He was permitted
to suffer without being rescuedby divine power, as if his prayers had not been
heard. God seemedto disregardhis supplications.
And in the night-season- As explained above, this means "constantly." It was
literally true, however, that the Redeemer's mostintense and earnestprayer
was uttered in the night-season, in the garden of Gethsemane.
And am not silent - Margin, "there is no silence to me." Hebrew: "There is
not silence to me." The idea is, that he prayed or cried incessantly. He was
never silent. All this denotes intense and continuous supplication, supplication
that came from the deepestanguishof the soul, but which was unheard and
unanswered. If Christ experiencedthis, who may not?
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
2. The long distress is evinced by—
am not silent—literally, "not silence to me," either meaning, I continually cry;
or, corresponding with "thou hearestnot," or answerestnot, it may mean,
there is no restor quiet to me.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
i.e. I continue praying day and night without intermission. Or thus, I have no
silence, i.e. no quietness or rest, as this word signifies, Judges 18:9; in which
respectalso the sea and waves thereofare said to be silent, i.e. still and quiet,
Psalm107:29 Mark 4:39. And so this last clause answersto and expounds the
former, thou hearestnot, which is most usual in this book.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
O my God, I cry in the daytime,.... In the time of his suffering on the cross,
which was in the daytime:
but thou hearestme not; and yet he was always heard, John 11:41;though he
was not saved from dying, yet he was quickly delivered from the power of
death, and so was heard in that he feared, Hebrews 5:7;

and in the night season:in the night in which he was in the garden, sorrowing
and praying, the night in which he was betrayed and was apprehended; and
though the natural desires of his human soul were not heard and answered,
that the cup might pass from him, yet his prayer in submission to the will of
God was:moreover, the daytime and night seasonmay designthe incessant
and continual prayer of Christ; he prayed always, night and day:
and am not silent; but continue to pray, though as yet seeminglynot heard
and answered;or there is "no silence to me" (w); that is, no rest from sorrow
and pain; or "no likeness to me" (x), there are none like me, no sorrow like
my sorrow, as in Lamentations 1:12.
(w) "non estsilentium mihi", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius;
"intermissio", Cocceius;"quies", Gejerus;"cessatio, quies, aut silentium",
Michaelis. (x) "Nonestmihi similitudo", Gussetius, p. 193.
Geneva Study Bible
O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearestnot; and in the night season,
and am not silent.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
2. thou hearestnot] R.V., thou answerestnot.
and am not silent] Better as R.V. marg., but find no rest:no answercomes to
bring me respite.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 2. - O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearestnot; rather, thou
answerestnot;i.e. thou dost not interpose to deliver me. And in the night
season, andam not silent (see Matthew 26:36-44;Mark 14:34-39;Luke 22:41-
44).
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 21:10-11)Hitherto the Psalmhas moved uniformly in synonymous
dipodia, now it becomes agitated;and one feels from its excitementthat the
foes of the king are also the people's foes. True as it is, as Hupfeld takes it,
that ‫תיל‬ ‫ךינ‬ sounds like a direct address to Jahve, Psalm 21:10 nevertheless as
truly teaches us quite another rendering. The destructive effect, which in
other passages is saidto proceedfrom the face of Jahve, Psalm 34:17;
Leviticus 20:6; Lamentations 4:16 (cf. ἔχει θεὸς ἔκδικονὄμμα), is here
ascribedto the face, i.e., the personalappearing (2 Samuel 17:11)of the king.
David's arrival did actually decide the fall of Rabbath Ammon, of whose
inhabitants some died under instruments of torture and others were castinto
brick-kilns, 2 Samuel12:26. The prospecthere moulds itself according to this
fate of the Ammonites. ‫רּוּננּכ‬ ‫ׁשא‬ is a secondaccusative to ‫,וּוינתו‬ thou wilt
make them like a furnace of fire, i.e., a burning furnace, so that like its
contents they shall entirely consume by fire (synecdoche continentis pro
contento). The figure is only hinted at, and is differently applied to what it is
in Lamentations 5:10, Malachi4:1. Psalm21:10 and Psalm 21:10 are
intentionally two long rising and falling wave-like lines, to which succeed, in
Psalm21:11, two short lines; the latter describe the peacefulgleaning after the
fiery judgment of God that has been executedby the hand of David. ‫אימו‬ , as
in Lamentations 2:20; Hosea 9:16, is to be understood after the analogyof the
expression‫הירּפ‬ ‫אי‬ . It is the fate of the Amalekites (cf. Psalm 9:6.), which is
here predicted of the enemies of the king.
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Werner Bible Commentary
"Forfreedom Christ has freed us" — Galatians 5
The Hebrew expressiongenerallyunderstood to mean “to [the] leader” or “to
[the] musical director” is rendered “to the end” in the Septuagint. Uncertainty
exists about whether the Hebrew word nátsachmeans “leader” or“director.”

The words “according to the hind of the dawn” may indicate a musical
compositionto the accompanimentof which this particular psalm would have
been sung. Another possibility is that it is a musicaldesignation, the
significance ofwhich is not known. The Septuagintreads, “concerning the
assistanceofthe early morning.”
Psalm22 (21, LXX) is ascribed to David. Becauseofhaving been granted the
prophetic gift and receiving a divine revelationthrough the prophet Nathan
that his dynasty would continue, David used language that found fulfillment
in the experiences ofJesus, the foretold Messiahand the permanent heir in
the royal line. (2 Samuel 7:10-17;Luke 1:31-33;69, 70; Acts 2:29-31)While
there are clearMessianic referencesin Psalm 22, the words apparently also
have a historicalbackground (which is the focus of the commentary).
Accordingly, there is no need to look for Messianic applications whenno
supporting biblical evidence exists. (For the Messianic aspects,see the Notes
section.)Often such applications are forcedand do not contribute to a better
understanding of the text.
Apparently facedwith extreme distress and finding himself in a state of
helplessness, the psalmist cried out to his God, “Why have you abandoned
me?” Unaware of any guilt on his part that would have led to divine
disapproval and being forsakento his enemies, he could not understand this
development, and the question revealed his innocence. It appeared to David
that God had distancedhimself, not responding to the words of his “roaring,”
his loud outcry of distress, and effecting his deliverance.
He cried out during the day, but God did not answer. Evenat night, David did
not remain silent, evidently continuing to cry out. The Hebrew could also be
understood to mean that he had no rest or repose during the night. According
to the Septuagint, his outcry would not be accountedto him as “folly.”
David knew God to be “holy” or pure, and this would have made it especially
difficult for him to understand why the distressing situation continued. The
reference to God’s dwelling in or sitting on the praises of Israelsuggests that,
as these praises ascended, he would be surrounded by them like a habitation

or enthroned on them. In the Septuagint, however, God, “the praise of Israel”
or the One whom the people laud, is portrayed as dwelling in the holy places.
Reflecting on past dealings, the psalmist declaredthat the Israelite forefathers
trusted in God. They trusted in him, and he delivered them.
Their trust had not led to disappointment. They cried to him and were
delivered. Becauseoftheir trust in him, they did not experience shame or
suffer humiliating defeat before their enemies.
By contrast, David found himself in the positionof a “worm,” and not a man.
He appeared to be a helpless creature amounting to nothing, was ridiculed,
and treatedwith contempt.
When seeing his pitiable state, people mockedhim. They “separated” or
parted their “lips,” evidently opening their mouths to hurl insults. In a gesture
of contempt, they waggedtheir heads.
In the Hebrew text, the opening word of the taunt is “roll” (the imperative
secondpersonsingular masculine form of galál), with the possible implied
objectof “roll” being “burden,” that is, a burden to be rolled upon YHWH. In
the Septuagint, however, the verb is a form of elpízo, meaning “hope” or
“trust.” Modern translations vary in their renderings—“yourelied on”
(NAB), “commit your cause to” (NRSV), “he trusts in” (NIV), or “lethim
commit himself to” (Tanakh) YHWH. The mockerycontinued: Becausethe
psalmist lookedto God, let God rescue him; let God deliver him, for he
delights in him. (See additional comments in the Notes section.)
In speaking of God’s taking him from the womb, the psalmist appreciatively
attributed his life to the Most High who had made his birth possible. David
also acknowledgedthatGod had made him secure upon his mother’s breast,
continuing to sustain and care for him in his mother’s arms. From the
“womb” or from the time he was born, he was thrust upon YHWH. There was
never a time when YHWH was not his God. From his mother’s womb or from
his birth, this had been the case.
On accountof this relationship from the very start of his life, he pleaded that
God would not be far away(“turn away,” LXX) from him or too distant to

provide aid. With distress being at hand and closing in on him, David needed
his Godto be nearby, for no one else could provide help.
His enemies surrounded him like many fierce bulls ready to gore, like strong
bulls from Bashan(a region eastof the Jordan that was well-suitedfor raising
cattle). (Compare Numbers 32:1-5, 33.)The Septuagint makes no mention of
Bashanbut refers to the animals as “fat bulls.”
With their mouths wide open, these foes were also like a lion, rending and
roaring. They were prepared to pounce on David and tearhim to pieces.
Facedwith formidable enemies, David depicted himself as powerless,
comparable to being poured out like waterfrom a vessel. Whenreferring to
all his bones as being separated, he seemingly meant that his situation could
be likened to a condition where the limbs did not function properly, making
any escape impossible. His “heart” had become like wax, losing its motivating
and energizing capacity. It melted in his “inward parts,” indicating that he
lost his courage.
He lackedstrength, for it had dried up like a discardedfragment of
earthenware that would sooncrumble. Apparently his mouth proved to be so
dry that he could not speak, forhis tongue stuck to his “jaws,” probably
meaning his gums. The Septuagint, however, reads “throat,” not “jaws.”
David had been reduced to the point where he felt that God was laying him in
the “dust of death” or abandoning him to death and burial in the dust.
Like vicious scavengerdogs, his enemies surrounded the psalmist. “A
company of evildoers” encircledhim, bent on bringing about his downfall.
Seemingly no avenue of escape existed. The foes were at his hands and feet
like a lion before its prey. The Septuagint, though, makes no mention of a lion
but reads, “they pierced my hands and feet.” This rendering also has the
support of a DeadSea Psalms scroll(5/6HevPs), suggesting that the
Septuagint is basedon a Hebrew text differing from the Masoretic Text.
In his weak and emaciatedstate, the psalmist could count all his bones, which
evidently would have been visible underneath the skin. According to

Septuagint manuscripts, his enemies counted all his bones. They lookedat him
and found malicious pleasure in seeing him in this pathetic state.
The psalmist portrayed the enemies as having stripped him of his garments.
They distributed them among themselves by casting lots to determine who
would get eachpiece.
Again, as in verse 11(12), the psalmist pleads for YHWH not to be far away.
He lookedto his God as his “strength,” praying that he hasten to his aid.
According to the Septuagint, his plea was for God’s help not to be distant.
David petitioned God to deliver his “soul” or life from the sword and from the
“hand of the dog,” evidently meaning the power of the enemy. The expression
“my only one” apparently is to be understood as meaning his own precious
life. In the Septuagint, “my only one” is rendered “my only-begotten”
(monogené mou), the life that was uniquely his own.
David continued to liken his enemies to wild animals, pleading to be saved
from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of wild bulls (“unicorns,” LXX). In
the MasoreticText, the concluding expressionis “you answeredme,” which
may mean “you came to the rescue.” Insteadof “you answeredme,” the
Septuagint says “my humiliation.” This reading suggests thatthe petition is
for deliverance from the humiliation vicious enemies could inflict upon him.
From this point onward, the psalmist depicted himself as one who had been
delivered and expressedhis deep gratitude to YHWH. To his “brothers,”
apparently meaning fellow Israelites and paralleling “in the midst of the
congregation,” he would declare God’s “name,” evidently relating the
marvelous deliverance the MostHigh had brought about, and he would praise
him for it.
He invited all fearers ofYHWH to join him in this expressionof praise. These
fearers of YHWH are also “sons of Jacob” or“sons ofIsrael” (God’s people
descendedfrom JacoborIsrael) and were calledupon to “glorify” and be in
fear of or have reverential regard for YHWH.
There was goodreasonfor acting on the psalmist’s invitation because of
YHWH’s dealings with the afflicted. Unlike merciless humans who add to the

suffering of those in distress by looking upon them with contempt, the Most
High never despises or detests the affliction of those who are afflicted, poor, or
lowly. According to the Septuagint, he has not disdained or been irritated by
the supplication of the poor. He does not hide his face from them, refusing to
turn his attention to their sad plight, but listens to their cry for aid. In the
Septuagint, the psalmist is representedas the one whose cry was heard (“did
not hide his face from me,” not “from him”; “I cried,” not “he cried”).
David’s praise in the greatcongregation(evidently that of Israel) had its
source in YHWH, whose saving acts provided the basis for the laudation.
When in dire straits, David had apparently made vows. Evidently, therefore,
in response to the aid provided, he was determined to pay his vows in the
presence ofthose who feared or had reverential regardfor YHWH.
In view of the divine help he had been granted, the psalmist expressedthe
confidence that the needy or godly lowly ones would eatand be satisfied. All
those seeking YHWH, desiring his approval, guidance, aid, and blessing,
would praise him, apparently for all that he had done for them. The
expressionabout their “hearts” living forevermay signify their being granted
a long and blessedlife.
David envisioned that people outside the borders of Israel — “allthe ends of
the earth” — would “remember” (probably God’s deliverances of his people)
and turn to YHWH and that all the families of the nations would bow down to
him or worship him.
The reasonfor their bowing down before YHWH is his being the possessorof
royal dominion. He rules over the nations.
The reference to their “eating” may refer to their living sumptuously. Having
eaten, all the “fat ones” (the rich or prosperous ones)of the earth or land
would bow down before YHWH, acknowledging him as having royal
dominion. Those going down to the dust, or being reduced to lifeless dust
when they die, will bow before him. Not a single one of those going down to
the dust can keephis “soul” or himself alive. (See the Notes sectionfor
additional comments.)

Becauseofwho YHWH is and what he has done, a “seed” oroffspring would
serve him. This is because those who witnessedthe Lord’s activity would tell
the coming or future generationabout him.
“They” would come and announce God’s righteousness orjustice (evidently as
revealedby his helping those in distress). The words “they will come” may be
understood to refer to the future generationthat would arrive on the scene.
These words, however, are not included in the Septuagint and numerous
modern translations. To those yet to be born, “they” (the new generation)
would announce what the MostHigh has done (probably the activity that
revealedhis justice).
Notes:
In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, the words of the crucified Son of God are
those found in Psalm22:1(2). Although the thought is the same, the Greek in
the Matthew (theé mou theé mou, hinatí me enkatélipes)differs from that in
Mark (ho theós mou ho theós mou, eis tí enkatélipés me;slightly different
manuscript readings of Mark exist), but both are closerto the reading of the
Masoretic Textthan is the Septuagint. The Septuagint rendering is, “O God,
my God, pay attention to me; why have you forsakenme?” The outcry
indicated absolute innocence and the deep sense of pain from having been
abandoned (for his Father did not intervene).
Those who taunted the crucified Son of God waggedtheir heads. (Compare
Psalm22:7(8) with Matthew 27:39.)
The taunts hurled at the crucified Son of God parallel the words of Psalm
22:8(9). (Matthew 27:43)
In the secondpart of verse 15(16), a partially preserved DeadSea Psalms
scrolldiffers from the Masoretic Textand seems to read, “my tongue melts in
my mouth. They have placedme as the dust of death.” (The DeadSea Scrolls
Bible) Like the sticking of the tongue to the gums, the “melting” of the tongue
seemingly points to inability to speak. The reference to “they” or the enemies
differs from the Masoretic Text, which attributes the developments to God
(apparently in the sense ofhis permitting it).

In verse 16(17), the Greek word for “pierce” (a form of orýsso)basically
means to “dig” or “dig out.” It is not the same term (ekkentéo)usedregarding
the “piercing” ofJesus’side (John 19:37; Revelation1:7), but believers in the
first century evidently understood that the words of Psalm 22:16(17)were
thus fulfilled in the case ofJesus Christ.
The gloating of Christ’s enemies (Luke 23:35) and the dividing of his clothing
fit the description of Psalm22:17, 18(18, 19). After relating what the soldiers
did with Jesus’clothing and their decisionto castlots for the seamless
garment, John 19:24 calls attention to the fulfillment of the scripture (Psalm
22:18[19]), which is then quoted. The Greek text of the quotation is identical
to that of the Septuagint.
With the exceptionof the first word, the quotation of Psalm22:22(23)in
Hebrews 2:12 is the same as the Septuagint reading. In the letter to the
Hebrews, the words of Psalm 22 are used to show that believers are Christ’s
brothers whom he is not ashamedto acknowledgeas such.
Translators have variously rendered verse 29(30), representing those going
down to the dust as either being dead or about to die. The explicit renderings
often are interpretive paraphrases. “All who sleep in the earth will bow low
before God; all who have gone down into the dust will kneelin homage.”
(NAB) “To him, indeed, shall all who sleepin the earth bow down; before him
shall bow all who go down to the dust.” (NRSV)“All the rich of the earth will
feastand worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those
who cannot keepthemselves alive.” (NIV) “All those in full vigor shall eatand
prostrate themselves;all those at death’s door, whose spirits flag, shall bend
the knee before Him.” (Tanakh)“All who are rich and have more than
enough will bow down to you, Lord. Even those who are dying and almost in
the grave will come and bow down.” (CEV) In view of the contrastwith the
“fat ones,” it may be preferable to regard those going down to the dust as
being persons barely existing on accountof their poverty.
In the concluding phrase of verse 29(30), the Masoretic Textreads, “and his
soul not keepalive.” This could mean that those about to go down to the dust
(or barely existing) are unable preserve their “soul” or life. The Septuagint,

however, uses the first person singular (“and my soullives to him”), indicating
that the soul of the psalmist, or he himself, lives to God. A number of modern
translations have chosento adopt this meaning. “And I will live for the
LORD” (NAB), “and I shall live for him” (NRSV).
For verse 30(31), the Septuagintcontinues the application to the psalmist.
“And my seedwill serve him. To the Lord, the coming generationshall be
announced.”
In the concluding verse, Septuagintmanuscripts read, “whom the Lord has
made,” not “that he has made [or, done].”
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
UNANSWERED PRAYER NO. 3344
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913 DELIVERED
BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTONON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1866
“O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearestnot; and in the night
season, andam not silent.” Psalm 22:2
IT is very clear to everyone who reads this Psalmthat these are not so much
the words of David as they are the words of David’s Sonand David’s Lord,
our blessedMaster. He prayed with strong crying and tears. He came before

His Father’s throne with supplications and for a long time it seemedas if He
would have no answer. It did appear as if God had utterly forsakenHim, and
that His enemies might persecute and take Him. Now, why was the Savior
permitted to pass through so sad an experience? How was it that He, whose
lightest word is prevailing with heaven, that He who pleads with divine
authority this day in His continual intercession, was permitted, when here
below, to cry, and cry, and cry again, and yet to receive no comforting
answer? Was it not mainly for this reason, that He was making an atonement
for us and He was not heard because we as sinners did not deserve to be
heard? He was not heard, that we might be heard. The ear of God was closed
againstHim for a season, thatit might never be closedagainstus, that forever
the mourner’s cry might find a way to the heart of God, because the cry of
Jesus was fora while shut out from mercy’s gate. He stoodthe surety for our
sins and was numbered with the transgressors. Upon Him the Lord laid the
iniquity of all His people and therefore, being the sinner’s representative, He
could not, for a while be heard. There was also, no doubt, another reason,
namely, that He might be a faithful High Priest having sympathy with His
people in all their woes. As this not being heard in prayer, or being
unansweredfor a while, is one of the greatesttroubles which canfall upon the
Christian, and fall it does, the Saviorhad to pass through that trouble, too,
that so it might be said of Him,
“In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows bore His part.”
When I fear that I have not been heard in prayer, I can now look upon my
Savior and say,
“He takes me through no darker rooms Than He went through before.”

He can now have a tender, touching sympathy with us, because He has been
tempted in all points like as we are. Was it not also, once more in our Savior’s
case, witha view to display the wondrous faith, fidelity, and trustfulness of the
obedient Son of God? Having been found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to His Father’s will. Now, obedience is not
perceiveduntil it is tried, and faith is not known to be firm and strong until it
is put to the testand exercised. Throughwhat an ordeal did this pure gold
pass!It was put into the crucible and thrust into the hottestcoals, allglowing
with a white heat, they were heapedupon Him, and yet no dross was found in
2 Volume 59
Him. His faith never staggered. His confidence in His God never degenerated
into suspicionand never turned aside into unbelief. It is, “My God! My God!”
even when He is forsaken. Itis, “My God and my strength” even when He is
poured out like waterand all His bones are out of joint. In this thing, He not
only sympathizes with us, you see, but He sets us an example. We must
overcome, as He did, through faith. “This is the victory which overcomes the
world, even your faith.” And if we can copy this greatHigh Priest of our
profession, who endured such contradiction of sinners againstHimself—if we
can copy Him so as to be neither faint in our minds, nor turn from our
Master’s work—weshalltriumph even as He overcame. Butmy chief object
in considering this theme is not so much to speak ofthe Savior’s trial, as to
address myself to those of our number who may even now be passing through
the same experience as our Lord. It will already comfortyou to know that
Christ has been where you are. It will already guide you to know that He has
setyou an example and that He bids you follow in His steps. Let us now draw
near to His sorrow and think on it for a while for our instruction and comfort.
In the first place, the text—without any inquiry into the cause ofunanswered
prayer, seems to give— I. A GENERALGUIDE FOR OUR CONDUCT.
Supposing that we have been seeking some blessing from God for many
months and have not obtained it? Whether it is a personalblessing or on
behalf of others, what ought to be our conductunder such a trial as that, the
trial of a long delay or an apparent refusal? In the first place, brethren, it is

clearthe text teaches us that we must not cease to trust God. “O my God.”
Oh! that appropriating word! It is not, perhaps, “My Father.” The spirit of
adoption is not here so much as the spirit of reverent trustfulness, but still
there is the hold-fast word still, “O my God.” Christian, never be tempted to
give up your hold upon your only strength, upon your solitary hope. Under no
conceivable circumstances, evergive place for an instant to the dark thought
that God is not true and faithful to His promises. Though you should have
sevenyears of unansweredprayer, yet suggestanyother reasonto your mind
than one which would dishonor Him. Say with the Saviorin this Psalm, “But
thou art holy.” Settle that in your mind. Oh! never suffer the faintest breath
of suspicion to come upon the fair fame of the MostHigh, for He does not
deserve it. He is true. He is faithful. In this apparently worstof all cases, He
did deliver His Son and come to the rescue in due time. In all other cases,He
has done the same, and I pray you never to distrust your God until you have
some goodand valid occasion for it. Never casta slur upon His integrity till
He really does forsake you, till He absolutelygives you up to perish. Then, but
not till then, shall you doubt Him. Oh! believe Him to be goodand true! You
may not know why it is that He deals so strangelywith you, but oh! never
think that He is unfaithful for an instant or that He has broken His word.
Continue still to trust Him. You shall be rewarded if you do, and the longer
your faith is tried, it shall be with you as when the ship is longestout at sea, it
goes to the richestclimes, and comes home with the heaviestand most
precious freight. So shall your faith come back to you with joy. She may lie
among the pots for many a day, but the time of her deliverance shall come,
and like a dove, shall she mount, with wings coveredwith silver and her
feathers tipped with yellow gold. “Trustin the LORD at all times ye people,
and pour out your hearts before him.” Once again, as we are never to ceaseto
trust, so we are never to ceaseto pray. The text is very expressive upon this
point. “I cry in the daytime, but thou hearestnot: and in the night seasonsI
am not silent.” Never ceaseyour prayers. No time is ill for prayer. The glare
of daylight should not tempt you to cease, andthe gloomof midnight should
not make you stopyour cries. I know it is one of Satan’s chief objects to make
the Christian ceasepraying, for if he could but once make us put up the
weaponof all-prayer, he would easilyvanquish us and take us for his prey.
But so long as we continue to cry to the Most High, Satan knows he cannot

devour the very weakestlamb of the flock. Prayer, mighty prayer, will yet
prevail if it has but time.
Volume 59 3
Oh! if this is the dark suggestionofthe evil one, “Forsake the closet. Give up
private devotion. Neverdraw near to God, for prayer is all a fancy”—I pray
you, spurn the thought with all your might and still cry, both in the daytime
and at night, for the Lord will still hearyour prayer. And while you never
ceasefrom your trust, nor from your prayer, grow more earnestin both. Let
your faith be still more resolvedto give up all dependence anywhere but upon
God, and let your cry grow more and more vehement. It is not every knock at
mercy’s gate that will open it. He who would prevail must handle the knocker
well and dash it down again, and again, and again. As the old Puritan says,
“Coldprayers ask for a denial, but it is red-hot prayers which prevail.” Bring
your prayers as some ancient battering ram againstthe gate of heavenand
force it open with a sacredviolence, “forthe kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by storm.” He that would prevail with God
must take care that all his strength be thrust into his prayers. The Lord will
not hear you if you only bring up a rank or line of the array of your desires.
There must be no reserves, but the whole army of your soul must come into
the conflict, and you must beleaguerthe mercy seat, determined to win the
day, and then shall you prevail. If there are delays, take them as goodand
sound advice to be more firm in your faith, and more fervent in your cry.
And yet again, cease notto hope. The New Zealanderhas a word for hope
which signifies, “the swimming-thought,” because whenall other thoughts are
drowned, hope still swims. She lifts her head out of the foamy waves, with her
tresses alltrailing, but sees the blue heaven above her and hopes, as that is
there. So if you have prayed ever so long, yet hope on. “Hope thou in God, for
I shall yet praise him, who is the strength of my life, and my portion for ever.”
As long as there is a place of prayer and a promise of an answer, no believer
ought to give way to despair. “Go again,” saidElijah to his servant seven
times. It must have been weary work to the prophet to have to wait so long.
He did not stand up once and pray to God as on Carmel, and then instantly

came down the fire to continue the sacrifice, but againand again, and getting
more humble in posture, with his face betweenhis knees, he beseeches the
Lord, not for fire, which was an unusual thing, but for water, which is the
common boon of the skies. And yet, though he pleads for that which the Lord
Himself had promised, yet it did not at once come, and when his servant came
back, four, five, six times, the answerwas still the same. There was no sign of
rain, but the brazen heavens lookeddown on an earth which was parchedas if
in an oven. “Go again!” said the prophet, and at the seventhtime, lo! there
appearedthe cloud like unto a man’s hand and this cloud was the sure
forerunner of the deluge and storm. Christian, go againseven times. Nay, I
will venture to sayseventy times seven, for God must keepHis promise.
Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of JEHOVAH’s
word can fail. “The grass withereth, the flower thereoffadeth away, but the
word of our God endureth for ever.” Do you plead that enduring word? Let
no dark thoughts drive you to despair. Continue to trust. Continue to pray.
Increase in your fervency and in the hope that the blessing will yet come. It
did come to the Savior. The morning broke upon His midnight after all. Never
tide ebbed out so far as in the Savior’s case, whenthe greatstretches of misery
and sorrow were visible where once God’s love had rolled in mighty floods.
But when the time came, it began to turn, and see how it has turned now in
mighty floods of matchless joy. The love of God has come back to our once
suffering Savior and there upon the eternal throne He sits, the Man, the
Crucified, who bowedHis head under mountains of almighty wrath, which
broke in huge billows and coveredHis soul. Be of goodcourage, Christian!
Hope on, poor soul, and hope on forever. Thus much by way of general
direction. But we now go on to a secondpoint and shall inquire into— II. THE
CAUSES OF UNANSWERED PRAYER. We shall, perhaps, on this theme,
get a few specialdirections which may be available in particular cases.Dear
friends, there are some of us who are not often troubled about unanswered
prayer—on the
4 Volume 59

contrary, our ownexperience is such that the existence ofa God who hears
His people’s cry is reduced to an absolute, mathematicalcertainty. I have no
more doubt about this than about my own existence, not because I cansee it
clearly and understand it perfectly, nor because with a blind credulity I
submit myself to the Bible as being the infallible revelationof God. But
because I have had realdealings with God, have tried and proved His
promises to be true, and have found out that according to my faith, it has been
done unto me in a thousand instances. This is truth that those who have
learned to live in the spirit-world, and to talk with God, understand and know
as plainly as they understand and know that when a child speaks to its father,
its father grants its request. It has become to many believers, not at all a
matter to be argued or talked of by way of dispute. They know that they have
fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and their prayers
are answered. Butoccasionally, to all believers, I suppose, there will come
staggering moments when they scarcelyknow how to reply to their doubts,
because certainof their prayers have not been answered. It may possibly
happen that the cause of unansweredprayer may many times lie in something
connectedwith sin. Do you not think that unansweredprayers are often a
Fatherly chastisementfor our offenses?The Savior, in that wonderful chapter
where He tells out His love to us, says, “If ye keepmy commandments, ye shall
abide in my love,” and then He notes, as a specialfavor, if a man abide in His
love and keepHis commandments, he “shallask what he will and it shall be
done unto him.” Now it seems to me to be only reasonable that if I will not do
what God wills, God will refuse to do what I will, that if He asks ofme a
certain duty and I refuse it, when I ask Him for a certainprivilege or favor, it
is not unkind, but on the other hand, most wise and kind, that He should say,
“No, My child, no. If you will not listen to My tender command, it is kind to
refuse you your desire until you do repent and obey.” Perhaps this is the way
in which, too, are visited upon God’s people some neglects ofordinances. “He
that knowethhis Master’s willand doeth it not, the same shall be beatenwith
many stripes.” And one of these stripes may surely be our non-successin
prayer. It may also be temporal affliction, but probably this is one of the main
ways in which the Masterinflicts the stripes upon His children. They are
negligentof His commands and He says, “Thenyou shall tarry awhile. I will
not yet grant you what you seek. Butwhen you come to a better mind, and are

more scrupulous and tender in the fulfilling of My commands, then your
longings shall be satisfied.” It may occur, too, that this delay may be a sort of
disclosure to us as to wherein our sin lies. Sin sometimes lies in a Christian
unrepented of, because he only dimly realizes that it is there. Hear what Job
declares, “Are the consolations ofGod small with thee? Is there any secret
thing with thee?” That is to say, if you love selfishease and feeble comforting,
if you do not prevail with God in prayer, is there some secretsin in you which
keeps back the blessing? Goddoes, as it were, sayto us, “Searchandlook.”
Unansweredprayer should be to every Christian a searchwarrant, and he
should begin to examine himself to see whether there be not something
harbored within which is contrary to the will of God. Oh! believer, this is not
a hard work for you to do, surely, but it is a very necessaryone. Search
yourself and breathe the prayer, “Searchme, O God, and try me, and know
my ways, and see if there be any evil wayin me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.” I think this is one greatreasonfor unansweredprayer, namely,
that it is a chastisementfor sin committed or an admonition againstsin
harbored. Sometimes there may be greatsin in the prayer itself. Are not our
greatestsins often connectedwith our holiest things? We must be aware of
our prayers. There is such a thing as polluting the mercy seat. Remember
what became of Nadab and Abihu, who offeredstrange fire before the Lord.
Beware, Christian, beware, you may sin againstGod in the prayer chamber,
as well as you can in the marketand you may offend on your knees, as wellas
when you are in your business. Have a care, for how canyou
Volume 59 5
hope that a prayer thus stained with sin canever succeed, unless you bring it
to the blood to have it purged and cleansedfrom all defiling before it mounts
to the throne of grace? And I sometimes fear, too, that our prayers do not
speed, because the thing askedfor, though as we think goodfor us, is asked
for from a wrong motive. If, for instance, a Christian minister asks thathe
may win souls in order that he may gain reputation and fame as a useful and
successfulevangelist for his Master, he will probably not be heard, for he asks
from an unworthy motive. If I seek to be useful merely that I may be knownto

be a useful man or woman, I am really seeking my own honor, and can I
expectGod to minister to and pamper that? I must take care, then, that even
when I ask for a goodthing, I ask it for the purest of reasons, viz., for God’s
glory. Oh! what washing even our prayers need! What cleansing, what
purging! Can we wonderthat they do not succeedwhenwe so often make
mistakes, both in the substance ofthe prayers and the motives from which we
offer them? Praying seems, to some persons, to be simply a child’s play or a
formal habit. They will take a book, read a form of intercession, and perhaps
offer a few extemporary words, and that is all. But these are all naught and
naughty prayers, unless God shall touch them and give them life. Sometimes,
then, non-successin prayer may be causedby sin. In such a case, heart-
searching, deeprepentance, and especiallya speedygoing to the cross to have
renewedfellowship with the cleansing blood, and to be brought once more in
contactwith the holy sufferings of the blessedSubstitute, will make us speed.
But we go on to notice that non-success in prayer may sometimes be the result
of ignorance. I think persons often offer very ignorant prayers indeed. I am
sure I have goodevidence that some do. There is scarcelyevera week passes
in which I do not receive intelligence from different persons who are on the
verge of bankruptcy or deeply in debt, that they have prayed to God about it,
and that they have been guided by God to write to me to getthem out of their
difficulties and to pay their debts. Now, I am always perfectly willing to do so
as soonas everI am directed expresslyby God Himself, but I shall not receive
the direction at secondhand. As soonas I receive it myself—and I think it is
only fair that I should receive it, as well as they—I shall be quite willing to be
obedient to His direction, provided, too, the funds are in hand, which does not
often happen. But folks must be very foolish to suppose that because they ask
God that such-and-such a debt may be paid by miraculous means, it will
certainly be done. I have a right to ask for anything which God has promised
me, but if I go beyond the range of the divine promises, I also go beyond the
range of assuredand confident expectation. The promises are very large and
very wide, but when one gets a fancy in his head, he must not suppose that
God is there, in his fancy. I have known some fanaticalpersons who thought
they could live by faith. They were going to preachthe Gospel, having no gifts
whateverfor preaching. They were going to be missionaries in a district
having no more gift to be missionaries than horses in a plough. But they

thought they were destined to do it and therefore, they tried to live by faith,
and when they had been nearly half-starved, then they complained againstthe
goodness andabandoned the labor. Had God really inspired and sent them,
He would have sustainedand kept them, but if they go about it willfully and
stubbornly on their own account, they must be driven back to realize their
own ignorance of the divine will. Now, we must not pray ignorantly, we must
pray with the understanding and with the spirit, so that we may clearly know
what we are praying about. Get the promise and then offer the prayer, and
the prayer will be answeredas sure as God is God. But get your own fancy
into your head and you will only have to get it out again, for it will be of no
service to you. And then oftentimes, we pray in a way in which our prayers
could not be heard consistentwith the dignity of the MostHigh. I love a holy
familiarity with God and I believe it to be commendable, but still, man is but
man, while God is God, and howeverfamiliar we may be with Him in our
hearts, still we must recollectthe distance there is betweenthe MostHigh and
the most elevatedand most beloved of His creatures, and we are not to speak
as though it were in our powerto do as we will and as we please.
6 Volume 59
No, we are children, but we are to remember that children have a limit as to
how they are to speak to their father. Their love may come as near as they
please, but their impertinence may not, and we must mind that we do not
mistake the familiarity of communion for the impudence of presumption. We
must be careful to distinguish betweenthe two, for he who is taught of God
and waits upon Him according to His own mind, will find, as a generalrule,
that he will not be long without an answerto his prayer. Now, if it be
ignorance that thus prevents the answering of your prayers, you should get
better instructed, and searchespeciallyinto such texts as bear upon the
matter of prayer, that you may know how to use your private key of heaven
and open the sacredportals, the gate of the divine mercy, for ignorance will
often make you to fail. Again, does it not often happen that there may be
reasons fordelay lying in our owninfirmity? Sometimes, if a mercy were to
come to a believer immediately when he askedfor it, it would come too soon,

Jesus was experiencing unanswered prayer

Jesus was experiencing unanswered prayer

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