Psalms 65:2

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.

God’s hearing of prayer

What avails prayer if it be not heard? But the text comforts us by the title it ascribes to God, and by the effect that the belief of it shall have upon all flesh. God in Christ is the hearer of prayer.

I. Wherein God’s hearing of prayer lies. This involves--

1. His accepting of our prayer (Psalms 141:2). But some prayer God hates (Proverbs 28:9).

2. His granting the request (Psalms 20:1; Psalms 20:4; Matthew 15:28).

3. His answering of prayer (Psalms 102:2). Prayer heard in heaven comes back like the dove with the olive branch of peace in her mouth.

II. The import of God’s being the hearer of prayer. It imports--

1. God in Christ is accessible to poor sinners (2 Corinthians 5:19).

2. He is a sin-pardoning God (Exodus 34:6).

3. He is an all-sufficient God.

4. Bountiful and compassionate (Psalms 86:5).

5. Omnipresent and omniscient, and--

6. Of infinite power.

III. What prayers they are that God hears.

1. Those of His own children.

2. Such as are agreeable to His will (1 John 5:14).

3. Made by the aid of the Holy Spirit. None else are acceptable. And--

4. Prayers offered to God through Christ.

IV. Consider more particularly this doctrine.

1. The instinct of prayer in all God’s people shows that He will hear prayer.

2. And so does the intercession of Christ (Romans 8:34).

3. Promises (Matthew 7:7; Isaiah 65:24; Psalms 145:19).

4. Invitations to prayer (Song of Solomon 2:14; Hosea 5:1. ult.; Psalms 50:15; Isaiah 41:17).

5. The gracious nature of God (Exodus 22:27).

6. The experiences of the saints in all ages.

7. The present ease and relief which prayer gives (Psa 138:8; 1 Samuel 1:18; Micah 7:7).

V. In what manner God hears prayer.

1. A thing prayed for may be obtained and yet the prayer be not accepted (Psalms 78:29; Psalms 34:1; Psalms 35:1; Psalms 36:1; Psalms 37:1; Psalms 38:1). So that a thing prayed for may be given in downright wrath (Hosea 13:11). Or in uncovenanted condescension. As Ahab (1 Kings 21:29; also Hosea 11:3).

2. Whether answers come in the way of grace or not may be discerned. They do not when there is a wilfulness and unhumbledness of spirit in asking (1 Samuel 8:19). Or when men’s lusts are strengthened and fed by them when received (Psalms 78:29). Or when men ask on the ground of their necessity more than on the intercession of Christ. The heart loves the gift more than the giver. But a prayer may be accepted and yet not granted. So was it with our Lord (Matthew 26:39). And David (2 Chronicles 6:8). And such prayers are ever submissive to God’s will (Matthew 26:39); they contain in the denial of them an unseen greater mercy; and even aim at the glory of God. And though unanswered we may know they are accepted when the heart is brought to meek submission (Psalms 22:2); and we are supported under the denial, as our Lord was (Luke 22:42; Psalms 138:3). And helped to go back to God with new petitions in faith and hope of hearing (2 Samuel 12:20). Let us remember that delay is not denial. Abraham prayed for an heir, yet fifteen years passed before the answer came (Genesis 15:3; Genesis 17:25; Exodus 2:23; Daniel 9:23). There is a difference between the granting of a petition and our knowing that it is granted. They may come together, as in Matthew 15:28. But, as with Abraham, they may not. The hearing and granting of prayer is an object of faith; the answer, of sense and feeling (1 John 5:14; Matthew 15:28). But the two are generally at a distance from one another. And the reason of this is manifold.

1. To keep us at the throne of grace (Proverbs 15:8; Song of Solomon 2:14).

2. To try our graces (James 1:12; Job 27:10; Luke 18:7). God delights in our faith.

3. To prepare and fit us for the answer (Psalms 10:17).

4. That we may have them at the fittest time, and when they will do us most good (John 11:14; John 2:4). (T. Boston, D. D.)

Encouragements to prayer

I. From its nature.

1. It is a spiritual thing; not any mere outward form, but the soul seeing the invisible, grasping the intangible and linking itself by sacred affinities with things eternal.

2. Consider also its dignity, it holds correspondence with the court of heaven.

3. And how important. For how unspeakably great is our need, and we can only gain supply for them as we seek it from God.

II. From the plighted faithfulness of the Divine character to hear and answer it. How, in face of all God’s promises to hear us, can we doubt the success of our prayers? Objections against prayer lie equally against all human endeavour. God will give good things to them that ask Him, but only He can say what things are good. They may be such as we deem anything but good. Many have been laid on beds of languishing to save them from a bed of everlasting burnings. And when the time for the blessings we ask for may be, we cannot know, nor fix the rate of their progress towards us.

III. The suggesting and controlling influence of the Holy Spirit in the act of devotion.

IV. The co-operating intercessions of our ascended Saviour, and the security we have in the use of His all-prevailing name. Oh! could the recording angel give you back an exact copy even of this morning’s prayers--a copy in which all the thoughts which passed through your mind while in the act of devotion should be translated into words,--how shocked would ye be at the intermixture of piety and profaneness, of reverent expressions and solemn trifling, with which ye insulted the majesty and provoked the patience of the holiest and best of beings. Wherefore was it, then, that ye were not consumed? Oh! it was that Jesus, “touched with a feeling of our infirmities,” stood in the gap between us.

V. The reflective benefit which, apart from direct answers to our prayers, comes to our souls. If a man do not move God he is sure to move himself. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)

The answerableness and the inevitableness of prayer

I. The answerableness of prayer. Hearing, here, means answering. He hears millions of prayers He never answers. The grand reason is, that the prayers are selfish.

1. The mind in this state looks upon God’s universe in new aspects.

2. Turns all events to new accounts.

II. The inevitableness of prayer. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” “Flesh” here means mankind. As all waters must find their way into the ocean, so all souls must find their way to God, sooner or later. Two things necessitate this.

1. Internal instincts. In all sentient existences there would seem at times to be something like an instinct of prayer.

2. External circumstances necessitate prayer. Men suppress the instinct, and sometimes make it well-nigh numb as death. But in the presence of a great danger, a great sorrow, a great grief, it bounds into earnest life. (Homilist.)

On prayer

1. The nature of prayer supposes, in the first place, that we have a just sense of our own wants and miseries, and of our dependence on God for relief. We live in a world where everything around us is dark and uncertain. When we look back on the past, we must remember that there we have met with much disappointment and vanity. When we look forward to the future, all is unknown. We are liable there to many dangers which we cannot foresee; and to many which we foresee approaching, yet know not how to defend ourselves against them. We know that we are the subjects of a supreme righteous Governor, to whom we are accountable for our conduct. How soon the call for our removal may be given, none of us know. Who amongst us can say, that he is perfectly ready to appear before his Creator and Judge, and to give an account to Him for all the actions of his life?

2. Thus it appears that there is a just foundation for prayer, in all its parts, naturally laid in the present circumstances of man, and in the relation in which he stands to God.

(1) With regard to temporal blessings, though men may lay a restraint upon themselves in the expressions which they utter in prayer, yet it is much to be suspected that the inward wishes of their hearts for such blessings are often the most fervent of any. To wish and pray for the advantages of life is not forbidden. Our Saviour hath so far countenanced it, as to command us to pray that God would give us our daily bread.

(2) With regard to spiritual mercies, we are unquestionably allowed to be more fervent and explicit in our requests at the throne of grace. God can never be displeased in hearing us implore from Him those graces and endowments of the soul, that beautify us in His sight, that are good for all men, good at all times, indeed, the only certain and immutable goods.

(3) Intercessions for the welfare of others form a material part of prayer. When we bow our knee to the common Father, let it be like affectionate members of His family, desiring the prosperity of all our brethren.

3. In order that prayer may produce its proper effect, there are certain qualifications necessarily belonging to it, which come next to be considered.

(1) One of the first and chief of these is seriousness, or an attentive and solemn frame of mind, in opposition to thoughts that wander, and to words that drop forth unmeaning from the lips.

(2) To seriousness, we must join affection in prayer; I mean that devotion of the heart which is inspired by gratitude and love, in distinction from forced prayer, or what is unwillingly preferred from servile fear, or mere regard to decency.

(3) Faith is another qualification required. We acknowledge our guilt; we disclaim all trust in our own righteousness; and implore grace from God on account of what His Son has done and suffered for us.

4. Having thus pointed out the chief qualifications of prayer, it remains that I show the importance and advantages of it.

(1) Prayer is one of the most powerful means of recalling our minds from the vanities of life to serious thoughts; to a proper sense of God and our duty; and to all the high objects with which we are intimately connected as rational and immortal beings.

(2) Prayer is useful, not only as a corrective of our natural levity and forgetfulness of God, but as an actual exercise of the best affections of our nature, which are thereby confirmed and strengthened. It implies the highest sentiments of reverence and adoration, of love and gratitude to God, of trust in His mercy, and of faith in our blessed Redeemer, all animating the heart.

(3) Prayer is important, “not only as a means of high improvement in religion, but as an instrument of consolation and relief under the distresses of life. (H. Blair, D. D.)

The prayer-hearing God

God not only hears prayer, but glories in so doing. He derives His fame, His character from it. For, think how constantly, readily and certainly He hears prayer. Hence, the psalmist declares, “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” It speaks not of God on the judgment-but on the mercy-seat; all shall seek unto Him. Let us then make known God as the prayer-hearing God, and let us, more and more, come to Him ourselves. (W. Jay.)