YE ASK, AND RECEIVE NOT.

 

EVENING DEVOTION by James Smith

MARCH 27

 

James 4:3

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,

that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

 
Is God then unwilling to bestow?
 
Will he forfeit his word?
 
No; but he never promised to sanction sin,
   or encourage folly; and
   this he must do if he answered all our prayers.
 
In prayer God looks at our motives.
 
He reads our hearts while he listens to our words.
 
If we ask for spiritual things with a carnal end God is just in withholding them.
 
We may ask for good things that we may become eminent in the estimation of men, be respected by our fellows, or applauded by the multitude.
 
Even grace and holiness may be prayed for in order to get a name.
 
Our object should be simply to honour God, to exalt Jesus, and to promote his cause.
 
Or, we may be too anxious for temporals.
 
We may be indifferent about spirituals.
 
See, then, the cause why our prayers are not always answered; the motive, or the end in view, or the spirit displayed is not good.
 
The prayer is as the design is.
 
Let us ask then,-Why do we pray?
 
How do we pray?
 
For what do we pray?
 

I fear I often ask amiss,

Lord, search my heart and see;

My motive purify, not cease

To draw my soul to thee.

 
James Smith