Do You Expect God to Hear Your Prayers?
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834—1892), the great 19th century Prince of Preachers, was often called “the last Puritan.” The spirit of Puritanism was certainly alive and well in his ministry.
One week after Spurgeon's home going in 1892, B. H. Carroll wrote this of Spurgeon:
“Yes, Spurgeon is dead. The tallest and broadest oak in the forest of time is fallen. The sweetest, most silvery and far-reaching voice that published the glad tidings since apostolic times is hushed . . . He fought a good fight. He kept the faith, and while we weep, he wears the triple crown of life and joy and glory, which God the righteous Judge has conferred upon him. In answer to the question: ‘How do you account for Spurgeon?' the answer is, ‘God.’”
In Volume I of his autobiography, Charles Spurgeon offers readers a great illustration regarding the type of expectant excitement we should hold when it comes to praying to our kind, sovereign King:
When we were small children, we had a little plot of garden-ground, and we put our seeds into it. I well recollect how, the day after I had put in my seed, I went and scraped the soil away to see if it was not growing, as I expected it would have been after a day or so at the very longest, and I thought the time amazingly long before the seed would be able to make its appearance above the ground.
“That was childish,” you say. I know it was, but I wish you were as childish with regard to your prayers, that you would, when you have put them in the ground, go and see if they have sprung up; and if not at once—be not childish in refusing to wait till the appointed time come—always go back and see if they have begun to sprout. If you believe in prayer at all, expect God to hear you. If you do not expect, you will not have.
God will not hear you unless you believe He will hear you; but if you believe He will, He will be as good as your faith. He will never allow you to think better of Him than He is; He will come up to the mark of your thoughts, and according to your faith so shall it be done unto you.