The children of God have been given the Spirit of prayer from the very beginning of their spiritual experience and it is their daily and constant exercise toward the Father of mercies, and always in the name of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Both their spiritual and temporal needs and also their desire for communion with God, bring them to the throne of grace. This characterises believers in their relation to God as His children by reason of the Spirit of adoption dwelling in them.
In the Word of God and in the experience of His people it is made evident that they are liable to meet with tribulation and trouble of many and varied kinds. Christ says to them: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer. I have overcome to world.” This is so now in the experience of believers; and in whatever manner they may be exercised in trouble, one thing is sure, they will be turning to God, through Christ, in prayer. A divine of long ago wrote, that affliction sends the Christian to prayer and by prayer to God.
Indeed, God enjoins them, through His Word, to be engaged at such seasons thus: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee: and thou shalt glorify me.” And again: “Is any afflicted? Let him pray.” In such parts of the Word of God the mind of God is expressed and the spiritual duty and privilege of His people indicated. All kinds of trouble may be subject matter for prayer and the Most High will determine in His divine wisdom how the petitions of His people shall be dealt with to His praise. The extreme nature of one’s affliction is not a discouragement in itself to prayer. The Lord Jesus on one occasion ignored the advice given by the friends of a greatly afflicted suppliant, “Trouble not the Master any further.” And in this connection the words of Jesus are significant: “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God.” One of the sins of Israel in the wilderness was that they limited the Holy One of Israel. This is of the very essence of unbelief and no doubt even the exercised believer is tried in heart with this with respect to prayer in time of trouble. The Spirit of God alone can help the Christian in regard to this infirmity: and it is a trying infirmity.
Of course the divine answer to prayer will be according to God’s purpose and secret will, not known by the believer until made clear to him in the course of God’s dealings with him.
In trouble, the answer to prayer may be comfort for the soul, strength to sustain and uphold under trouble, a needed measure of the grace of patience to endure, a gracious and humble submission to a cross as in the case of Job at the beginning of his afflictions, and it may be deliverance out of the actual affliction experienced.
Prayer in time of trouble must not be in the nature of a demand, but of a desire that God will hear and deliver, whatever form the deliverance will take. The suppliant’s unworthiness and the greatness of God are serious considerations here.
Nevertheless there have been cases wherein the Lord’s people found themselves in great straits and cried to the Lord for deliverance from the actual trouble affecting them, believing that He was able to accomplish this, even speedily, on their behalf. Such was true of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon dreamed and forgot the dream, and because the wise men could not recall his dream and in addition show the interpretation thereof, they were threatened with death. “And they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.” Daniel, on obtaining time, engaged his companions with himself, “… that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret“, that they would not perish. And God in answer to prayer, granted Daniel a revelation of the dream and the interpretation thereof, exactly what he prayed for and required. And thus the special divine help prayed for was granted in the sovereign mercy of God. We may observe here that Daniel and his companions were not given special grace to die at the hands of a cruel and unreasonable king, but preservation from such a death.
The counsel of the Lord Jesus is that, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint”; when, for instance, they are in trouble and turn to God as their refuge and strength and help. Jacob wrestled with the Angel until he obtained the blessing. An appropriate illustration is the case of the Syrophoenician woman, whose daughter had an unclean spirit. She did not cease to apply to the Lord Jesus for deliverance for her daughter, in face of apparent discouragements, until finally she obtained deliverance for her daughter. The Lord said to her, “O, woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” Even as thou wilt!
These things are written for our learning; and what we may properly pray for in time of trouble, we may be importunate in our praying. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.” (Psalm 20: v.1).