Luke 11:12

Luke 11:12

Short devotions a hindrance to prayer.

I. Our Lord's nights of prayer were not simple exercises of His exceeding spiritual strength; they were also the earnest cleaving of man to God. And if the infirmities of a sinless being drew him so mightily to God, how much more ought the sin that is in us to drive us to the Divine Presence for healing and for strength! The contrast of our weakness with His perfection gives us no discharge from His example; rather, it adds a greater force. It brings out a further and deeper reason which makes the law of prayer to us the very condition of life. If we do not pray we perish. It is no answer to say we are weak and cannot continue in prayer as He. That very weakness is in itself the necessity which forces us to pray.

II. Again, it is said, "It is impossible for those who live an active and busy life to find time for long private devotions." From the tone in which some people speak one would think that our blessed Master had lived a leisurely and unimpeded life; that He had nothing else to do but to live alone in retirement and solitude, in contemplation and prayer; and this of One whose whole life was toil amid crowds and multitudes, hungry and wayworn, full of calls and interruptions. It were rather true to say that no man's life was ever yet so broken in upon, and taken from him by labour and care, and the importunity of others, as His; and yet He is to us the perfect Example of devotion. It was the toil of the day that turned His night into a vigil. Alas for the man that is too busy to pray! for he is too busy to be saved.

III. But once more. It may be said, "All this proves too much, for if it prove anything it proves that we ought to give up our natural rest and our night's sleep, and to break the common habits of a regular life in a way that health and sound discretion would equally forbid." Is it not true that people who would without a word, travel many nights together for business or amusement, would positively resent the notion of spending even a few hours of Christmas or Easter Eve in prayer and self-examination? However, it is enough for the present purpose to say that whosoever would live a life of prayer, must spend no small part of every day in praying.

H. E. Manning, Sermons,vol. ii., p. 342.

We are not told the exact time or the particular spot where this prayer was made. Of the spot, we know only that it was a mountain; it must have been a mountain near Capernaum. Twice we read of Jesus Christ going out into a wilderness or solitary place to pray, and twice into a mountain.

I. It is clear that the place was selected as helpful. He could not do what He has told us to do, for how could He, who never had a house, "go into His closet, and shut the door"? Therefore He made the mountain His closet, and the rocks shut the door about Him. And there was a grandeur and a fitness when the Incarnate Creator of this world found His secret place in the stillness of the fastnesses of nature. It may not be given to us ever to find the aid of these sublimities, but this is a good rule Choose for prayer whatever most quiets and most raises the mind.

II. Of the time of Christ's prayer we only read that it was "in those days," those Capernaum days. But whenever it was, it was on the eve of the election of the Twelve. The eves of all events are solemn calls to prayer. How many days would have been saved their bitter, bitter regrets, if there had been more praying yesterdays. Life is full of eves. All life is an eve. Few great events have no eve. And we cannot be too thankful to God for those hushes given us for probation. The secret of a happy life the secret of eternity is a well-spent eve.

III. Our blessed Lord did not always pray the livelong night. The manner in which the fact is mentioned here shows that it was quite exceptional, and He had the Spirit without measure. The general rule is, Pray according to the condition of your heart. Do not let the prayer strain the thoughts, but let the thoughts determine and regulate the prayer. Pray as you feel drawn in prayer, or, in other words, as the Spirit of God in you leads and dictates. The great thing is to have something really to say to God. Whatever you do, do not pray on for words' sake, or for length's sake. You honour God in prayer by saying and leaving, more than by saying and repeating. And be sure that you carry into prayer the principle which you are to carry into conversation, and never talk, either to man or to God Himself, above and beyond your real level.

J. Vaughan, Sermons,1868, p. 101.

References: Luke 6:12. W. H. Jellie, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 196; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xiv., No. 798; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 289, vol. vi., p. 270; G. Salmon, Sermons in Trinity College, Dublin,p. 171.Luke 6:12; Luke 6:13. Homiletic Magazine,vol. vi., p. 129; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 319. Luke 6:12. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 30. Luke 6:13. Christian World Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 344; H. P. Liddon, Ibid.,vol. xxvi., p. 129. Luke 6:13. Preacher's Monthly,vol. x., p. 223; Homilist,4th series, vol. i., p. 88. Luke 6:13. F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven,p. 97. Luke 6:15. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xi., No. 639. Luke 6:15; Luke 6:16. Preacher's Monthly,vol. xii., p. 43.Luke 6:17. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 41; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven,p. 110.