"Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God." (Jer. 3:22).
Posted : 15 Aug, 2011 06:45 AM
Do not stay away from the throne of grace because you are in a bad frame of mind. If God is ready to receive you just as you are�if no questions are asked, if no examination is instituted, if no exceptions are made on account of the badness of the state�then count it your mercy to go to God with your worst feelings.
To linger away from the throne of grace because you are unfit and unprepared to approach it, is to turn it from a throne of grace into a throne of merit. If the Lord's ears are only open to the cry of the righteous when they seek him in certain good and acceptable frames of mind, then he hears them for their deserving, and not because he is a God of grace. But he can never alter his character, or change the foundation of his throne. It is the mercy-seat; the throne of grace. It is not for any frame, either good or bad, in the suppliant that he bows his ear. It is for his own mercy's sake, and through the mediation of Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Therefore, do not yield to this scheme of your adversary to keep you from prayer. It is the privilege of a poor soul to go to Jesus in his worst frame�to go in darkness, to go in weak faith, to go when everything says, "Stay away," to go in the face of opposition, to go hoping against hope, to go in the awareness of having walked at a distance�to take the hard, cold, and reluctant heart and lay it before the Lord. Oh what a triumph this is of the power and the grace of the blessed Spirit in a poor believer!
Dear reader, what is your state? Are you feeble in prayer? Are you tried in prayer? And yet, is there anything of real need in your heart? Is there anything of real desire? Then draw near to God. Your frame will not be more favorable tomorrow than it is today. You will never be more acceptable or more welcome at any future period than at this very moment. Give yourself to prayer.
Suppose that you are in the worst state that can be�your frame of mind is the most unfavorable, your cross is the heaviest, your corruption is the strongest, your heart is the hardest. Yet, if you betake yourself to the throne of grace and open your case to the Lord with groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26), then you will adopt the song of David, who could say in the worst of frames and in most pressing times, "But I give myself unto prayer" (Ps. 109:4).
"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles" (Ps. 34:3�6).
