Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Kings chapter 18, reading
from our text, verse 43, particularly the last part. The whole verse
reads, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea,
And he went up and looked and said, there is nothing. And he said, go again, seven
times. These words, go again, seven
times, particularly just go again. A picture of Elijah praying and
his servant looking and watching and for the answer to that prayer. There was a need for this time
in Israel, this trial upon Mount Carmel. The need was because
the children of Israel had turned to idolatry. The great extent
of that is mirrored by how many of the prophets of Baal there
were, the prophets of the groves, and how When the trial came,
we think these are the children of Israel that are really thinking
that Baal can hear them and can answer. We think of when Elijah
first spoke to them, they answered not a word. When he proposed
to them the trial and what it should be, they said it is well
spoken, obviously feeling that it was a test, a trial, that
their God would stand. Israel had fallen to that extent,
so far, so far from their God. What a reminder it is that God's
children, too, may be left to idolatry, may be left to depart
in a great measure from the Lord. As many times as we read the
history of the children of Israel, ever since they came out of Egypt,
through the wilderness, and then in the Promised Land, It reflects
what the natural heart is like, and even seen in David in his
fall, how far one can go, still keeping up, sometimes even a
pretense of worship. In the days of Ezekiel, they
were worshipping the true and living God, and then turning
and worshipping idols, doing both at the same time. Now Lord,
when he came, he testified he cannot serve God a mammon, But
Israel, his ancient people, had tried to do that many, many times. The commandment is, thou shalt
have none other gods before me. But many times they did. They
didn't fully cast away the Lord, but they joined Him to idols. So there was a need for this
time. There was also a preparation
for this time. God did not just start where
we started our reading this evening. He started first with what you
might say seemed to have no relation to their idolatry or to what
the Lord was going to do. He brought a famine, He brought
a time when there was to be no rain upon the earth. Not just
for a short time like we have had in recent months and has
now turned to great rains in its season, but year after year,
three and a half years, we can hardly comprehend what it must
have been in that land to have no rain for that period. And
yet the Lord was doing it for a purpose, to make the people
ready to be brought to trial of their God and ready to hear
and listen, even Ahab, to listen to Elijah. Yet what a reminder
we have as Ahab meets Elijah. Ahab is blaming Elijah for all
that has happened. Elijah is very clear. He says,
I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy father's house in
that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed
Balaam. He lays the charge clearly at
Ahab and yet Ahab has not even after all of those three and
a half years, he is not searching his own heart, he's not looking
at the reason why he is blaming the Lord's servant. Why? Why
he would say because it was the Lord's servant that said that
apart from his word there should not be rain nor dew for those
years. A preparation then, in withholding
of growing, are we in a preparation for God's work ourselves? Maybe
we might look at our lives and look at things that are happening
and we think, well, there's no relation to what is happening
to my soul or to my sin or to my prayers, but all these things
are happening in my life. But God does prepare. I know
well from when the Lord began with me, He didn't begin in just
one front. He didn't give me just a desire
for the things of God and to seek those things. He began to
work in the things that I was doing in the world, my pursuits,
my enjoyments, the choirs, the orchestras, the bands, the things
I was involved in, the much social interaction that was with them.
the annual event at Melbourne with the St. David's Day celebrations. We were always with the choir,
40-strong male choir, ballroom dancing, all the eats laid on. It was a high society thing up
in Melbourne. Those were the type of things
I was doing. And the Lord put a blight on
them all. I couldn't see the relationship
between what the Lord was working in my own soul and desire for
the things of God With that, I just could not enjoy those
things anymore, and I couldn't work myself out. Why didn't I
like those things that I once loved? And yet the Lord was working
in those two ways. They have the words of Solomon,
Vanity of vanity saith the preacher, all is vanity. And that is, the
world is vanity, it's vain, it's empty, but we don't see it by
nature. When the Lord begins to touch
it, begins to work in our hearts, then we begin to see it. But
quite often we don't see the real reason. Might think the
Lord is not answering our prayers. Might think that all these things
even are against us. That's what dear Jacob says,
and yet he was leading up to real blessing of having Joseph
in Egypt and a wonderful provision, ongoing provision. But he says,
all these things are against me. You might be feeling the
same, walking. in the same way. But remember,
when we look at accounts like this, that here is an account
of a day, you might say, on Mount Cum, but prior to that day is
three and a half years of preparation. And the Lord knows how to prepare
us to receive His Word, to prepare us to see things, to hear things,
to do things that we would not otherwise have done. except for
that preparation. Many times in the Word that we
have use of this, we have even in David and Goliath. Why didn't,
why wasn't David brought first to be in Israel? The Lord knew
where he was. He knew that he would be the
one, that he'd deliver Israel out of the Philistines' hand,
that he would slay Goliath. Why didn't he send him first?
Why wait 40 days? 40 days is a testing time. It had to be proved, there was
none other one in Israel. Saul couldn't, no one, no one
at all, except when the Lord sent David. And what a reminder
that is, that there is no salvation except in David's greatest son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. But first, other men must be
exhausted first. They must be laid aside, like
with Boaz and Ruth. There is a kinsman nearer than
I. He must be dealt with first.
He must be made sure. He cannot redeem you, then I
will redeem you. And the same with the way God
works with His children, that it is first shown that their
flesh, no man, none other can save but Christ alone. And He prepares the heart just
like the husband man would prepare the ground before he puts in
the seed. So the Lord does the same. How
much preparation is the Lord doing in your heart and mine,
your life and mine? There's another reason for this
time, this gathering on Mount Carmel. And that was that Israel
were God's people. If they weren't, he would have
just let them go. Let them go to their idols. But they were his people. They
were the people that he had given the promises to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, Israel. And so he didn't let them go.
There's wonderful encouragement here. The Lord will not let his
people go. His chosen, his redeemed people,
his saved people. We know from Paul's writings
that not all they of Israel are of Israel. Just because they're
Abraham's seed doesn't mean that they are saved amongst the elect.
But they were his ancient people, a covenant people, not all of
them saved by any means. But because they were as a nation,
they were given these blessings. And God's chosen people spiritually
as well. He'll never forsake them. He'll
chasten them, He'll correct them, He'll reprove them, but He'll
bring them back to Himself. He's a jealous God and He won't
allow them to go hand in hand with the world and go away from
Him. He'll bring back His people like
a good shepherd. And the sheep wander, they go
away. He doesn't just say, we'll just let them go away. That's
only just one or two, I've got plenty left. You go after them. God is going after his people
here. You bring them back. Later on,
though Elijah felt he was the only one left, the Lord had reserved
him 7,000 in Israel that had not bowed the knee unto Baal. I want to look then with the
Lord's Helm at three main points this evening. Firstly, seven
contrasts that I want to highlight in this account, leading up and
part of our text. And then secondly, an incentive
to continue in prayer and watching in the same. Specifically, in
the words of our text, go again seven times. And thirdly, an
application beyond prayer, where this word, go again, especially
go again, may apply to other things in our lives as well. May the Lord direct you to write
this evening one who knows where they must go again. But firstly, we have seven contrasts. The Lord often uses contrast
in teaching. You know what a contrast is?
You have a white sheet of paper, you put something white on it,
there is no contrast, it's hard to see it. If you put something
black on it, the contrast is great and you can see you can
very clearly see. And it's the same with today's
things, in a computer screen, there's no contrast, you can't
really see what is on the screen. If you increase the contrast,
then you can see it. And it's in that way that the
Lord often works with contrasts. He pictures in the parables very
often like the two that went up to the temple to pray. There
is the Pharisee. He's praying with himself. He
is giving thanks to God for all that he is. He's full of pride. He doesn't ask anything at all.
And then we see the publican who cannot even look up to heaven,
beating upon his breast. God be merciful to me, a sinner.
What a contrast, two very different characters. Very different prayers. And by that the Lord shows us
what is a real prayer, what is the one like he says, went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. It's in that
way. Notice as you look through our
Lord's teaching, how many times he uses contrast, two things,
not just one. Even in the parable of the shepherd,
he's speaking of those shepherds whose own the sheep are not,
who leave the sheep. And then he speaks of the good
shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Even at the cross we see the
contrast. Our Lord in the center and the
two thieves. And we see the difference that
was wrought between them. We indeed justly We receive the
due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the other,
he was saying, save thyself and us, if thou be the Christ. Right there at Calvary. So here
we have as well, seven contrasts. Firstly, we have Baal and the
true and living God. Baal is a God that was made,
men had made it, men had formed it. And then we have the true
and living God that made the heavens and the earth and all
things that are in them. What a contrast that there is.
Many times through the scriptures in Isaiah we have it with the
workman, the taker of the tree, he uses part to burn in the fire
and then part he makes a God He bows down to it, men like
idols, because you can make it say what you want them to say.
You can make them see what you want them to see. They can't
ever reprove you. He's just a servant. What a contrast to the true and
the living God who you cannot escape His sight. You cannot
deceive Him. He knows the heart. He doesn't
only know the Outside but inside? What a difference between an
idol and the true and living God. We read in the Word that
the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish
from under the heavens and the earth. Then we have the contrast
of the sacrifice. We had two altars there. One
was a dry one, No fire under, and the other one was a wet one.
No fire under. What a contrast between those
two altars. They're looking at a fire to
be kindled, and yet when we look at the altar where the fire was
kindled, and where the fire did come from heaven, it looks so
impossible. and it was by the Lord's command,
it was made to be so impossible. And we might look, if the Lord
is going to give us the sign and evidence that He is God,
a true God, that He has turned our hearts back again, you wouldn't
think that the way that that was to be proved is in the picture
of this altar that is sodden and dripping and showing nothing
like ever that there would be any kindling of fire there. You think of some of the cases
our Lord healed and showed his power in the scriptures. You
think of the woman with the issue of blood, 12 years. Do you try it? All the physicians
suffered much at their hand. If ever there was a case where
there's a sodden ulcer or so wet, so impossible, so unlikely
that there should be any healing, it was her. Yet she comes to
the Lord and immediately she is healed. How many things in our lives
do we think, well, If the Lord is going to work, it'll be in
a gradual, gradual way. It won't be bringing it to absolute
impossibility. And then he'll work, and then
he's saved, and then he'll show his hand. But that is how it's
set forth. You think of the children of
Israel. Nine signs and wonders. They still are not out of Egypt.
Impossible. and never get free from Egypt.
Look at all what's happened, and you might be looking at your
life, and your prayers, and your attachment to the world, and
the world's hold over you. And you think, judgments nor
mercy's ne'er can sway my roving heart to wisdom's way. I'm still
held as much as what I was when the Lord was working all these
things. What will be needed to bring
me out? As soon as the blood is shed,
Out they go, the emphasis on the blood, nothing but Thy blood,
O Jesus. And yet at first it is proved
as impossible, and then immediately afterwards they come to the Red
Sea. The Red Sea in front, the mountains behind it, and each
side, and Egypt behind them, again impossible. Just like that
wet altar, as it were, in a position you think, well, It doesn't. How could the Lord appear in
this? What can he do in this? And yet he opens the way through
that water, through the Red Sea. And so we have the contrast of
these two answers. Which one would be most likely
to catch fire, as it were? The right one, of course, but
the one that doesn't. One is the one that is naturally
impossible and it's then more clearly seen that it was the
Lord's work and not man's work. Now often the Lord does that.
Remember Gideon? Brought down his army to 300
men. Why? So that they did not take
the glory to themselves, so that God had the glory. And yet it was brought down first
to be, as if how could they ever accomplish the victory over the
Midianites amidst such a few men? So we have here this contrast,
the wet sacrifice, the dry sacrifice. But then we have the contrast
of the prophets. Elijah is very clear to highlight
this. And he says that ye are many,
your prophets, so many, hundreds of them. He says in verse 22,
even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets
are 450 men. Surely the weight of truth and
right is on the side of numbers. No, it is not. It's on Elijah's side. Never
be discouraged when you're outnumbered. When there's hundreds on Baal's
side, you might think only one on yours. But Elijah had God
on his side. He had the truth on his side.
And all these things that he was doing was at God's command. Even we might say highlighting
these contrasts. bringing them about, being the
Lord's servant, the Lord's messenger in these things. The Lord's people will always
be a remnant, as it were. The Lord help us not to be ashamed
of Him, nor discouraged by being in the minority. Then there's another contrast,
an unwilling people and a willing people. You might say at first they were
willing to, the children of Israel, to have the prophets of Baal
alive and to be with them. But later on, They were willing
to take those same prophets and destroy them, to get rid of them. Now we might have idols in our
heart unwilling to get rid of them, but the Lord knows how
to make us willing. We read, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. And what made these people willing?
That's another contrast. That was the altar. that the
fire fell upon. It didn't fall upon Israel who
had willingly gone after the false prophets. It didn't fall
upon the false prophets. It fell upon the altar. And it
is a beautiful time of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That
is what the altar and the sacrifice and everything sets forth. Our
Lord Jesus Christ. And the fire from heaven, it
must have been a tremendous sight. Some of you may have seen videos
of when lightning has fallen from heaven and the bolt of lightning
comes down and the strength of the fire and that which it hits,
it is an amazing sight. And that must have been amazing
for the children of Israel to see the fire come down on that
altar and completely consume it. The noise would have been
tremendous, the sight, the light would have been tremendous. It's
hard for us to really picture it. And yet when we think this
was what was setting forth the great antitype of Christ upon
the cross and the wrath of God falling upon Him and not on His
people. In Psalm 80 we have, Let thy
hand be upon the man at thy right hand, the Son of whom thou madest
strong for thyself. The wrath of God on that substitutionary
offering, like Isaac being taken off the altar, viewing the ram
put in his place, and then the fire consuming the ram instead
of him. The children of Israel saw this.
What a contrast that that should be. It may ever be a wonder to
us as we view Calvary, As we view it in the elements of the
Lord's Supper, that here is a reminder that it is the Son of God that
the wrath of God fell upon instead of His people. A sacrifice acceptable
unto God, a propitiation, a wrath-ending sacrifice. And what was said
here? that they may know that God hath
turned your hearts back again. Those that view our Lord Jesus
Christ suffering instead of them, when they know what they deserve,
they can know that God has turned their hearts back again because
of what he has shown them. The eye is shown, look upon him
whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him. And so we have the contrast where,
where that fire fell, where the wrath of God fell. Then we have
a contrast in the prayers that are made by Elijah. For the fire, we have him praying
once, and we're told the words that he uses may have given his
whole prayer. And he just prayed and the fire
descended from heaven. But then they needed rain. They
need the benefits and the blessings that were to flow from the wrath
of God being turned away from them. And so he must pray again. And this time in the words of
our text, it is not just once, but to go again. Seven times. Two occasions of prayer. Very,
very different. How many times God's children
may feel, well, I did pray but once for this thing, and the
Lord answered straight away. But I have something else, and
it may be linked with that other thing. And I prayed and prayed
and prayed, and the Lord has not answered me. You have that
contrast in your life too, the same as what Elijah had here. Then we have a last contrast
that I draw your attention to, and that is what the servant
came and that he said. He came back and he said that
there riseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. That's all, just a little cloud. But Elijah, he says, I'm saying
to Ahab, prepare thy chariot, get thee down that the rain stop
thee not. And then we have the picture
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind. There was a
great rain, a little cloud. How would anyone link that with
a great storm? You know, if you're out on the
sea, if you're out sailing and you saw this little cloud come
up, would you read into that that in a moment that would be
a great heavy storm? How often the beginnings of a
blessing begin small. In Ezra we read that the Lord
may give us a little reviving in our bondage, a little reviving
they lead to big revivings. We think of our Lord, so small
a babe, as one of the hymns says, from what, beginning small, our
great salvation rose. And often there is this contrast
that when the Lord begins to work, He begins in a very small
and gentle way, But Elijah here, he recognised it. This was what
he had been praying for. This was what he'd been looking
for. And this was what the Lord would
do. And he knew it wouldn't just stop at something small. It would
be exactly what he prayed for and asked for. And yet what a
difference between the beginnings of it and the end of it. We are warned in Scripture We
are not to despise the day of small things. We're not. We're to be encouraged in small
things. We're not to cast away our confidence
which hath great recompense of reward. If that confidence is
based on the Lord and His work and what He will do, we're not
to cast that away. Has the Lord given you contrast
in your life already? Maybe help through them. Help
to see more clearly His work. You think of Psalm 107. Again
and again it happened with them. Into troubles and they fell down,
there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, He saved them out of their stresses. Back again,
give praise and thanks unto God, O that man would. for their next
minute down again into the depths, and then to cry again unto the
Lord, and the Lord delivered and saved them right through
that psalm. All the time, these ups and downs, the day of adversity,
of the day of prosperity, trials and darkness and then light.
And at the end, whoso is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand. They that know no changes fear
not God. You and I, the people of the
Lord, will have changes, and things will be in our lives,
we won't stand on an even keel, and everything goes smoothly
and right all the time. The Lord will be dealing with
us, and will be dealing with contrasts, and dealing with changes,
and in all these things, in all our exercise and burdens, He
will work His salvation. and a work in our hearts to his
honour and glory. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. So firstly, seven contrasts.
Secondly, an incentive to continue in prayer. The words of our text. Go again. Go again seven times. And the servant is watching.
Elijah is praying. Prayer and watching. Those two
go together. And it is to continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving. How often the epistles there
is exhorted to continue in prayer, and our Lord, he told the parable
of the widow, that the unjust judge wouldn't avenge her, he
says, but because of her continual coming, I will avenge her of
her adversary. Importunate prayer, going again
and again and again. We know this truth, don't we?
But when it's put into practice, when we are discouraged, when
we don't have an answer straight away, do we think of it then?
Do we remember it then? There's a reason for it. And this isn't just confined
to the Old Testament. Our Lord enforcing upon the necessity
of it, telling the parables to that end, looking again and again. Now this is the only thing you
and I take away from the Word tonight, to continue in prayer,
to still pray. The Lord knows what it is that's
your burden and your cry and what you're praying over, what
you're watching over the Lord for to appear for you and to
do for you. And the Lord knows your readiness
to give up your discouragement. He knows your sorrows, your distresses. May the word this evening be
a word to you to go again. And you know it doesn't specifically
mean seven times. No doubt here it was seven times. Seven in scripture is a complete
number. It's a perfect number. and the Lord will have us to
go and pray for that number of times that He has determined.
This word is a special word to me, remembering I was in my early
twenties and seeking the Lord. It was one particular Easter
and I had much studies to do, many things to do. The Lord gave
me such a desire, such a longing for His blessing, and I tried
to pray and pray for it. And on the Saturday, I got no
answers at all. And I thought, well, things that
I had to do out in the garden, and I was planning on renovating
this rock pool I had into getting a wire brush and scraping it
out, And so, very despondent, leaving the throne of grace,
going out into the garden, and I put one stroke on that concrete,
and a bit of that concrete got up into my eye. And I left the
pool, I went into the bathroom, and tried to wash it out, and
it wouldn't go out. The grit was in my eye. And this
word come to mind. Firstly it was, go and pray,
go and pray about it. I went and knelt by my bed and
prayed about this, the Lord would take away this out of my heart. I went back and tried to wash
it out again and still it was there. And then this word came,
go again, seven times. I went back to the bedroom again
and as I knelt and cried to the Lord, the Lord drew near and
said, bless my soul. And the tears flowed. And, you
know, the tears just washed the grit out of my eye. But I had the blessing. And the
Lord knew. He knew what I desired. And He knew with a heavy heart
that I'd gone back to my work. And brought me back in straight
away. Brought me back to prayer. and
brought me to continuing prayer, didn't have to go seven times.
So you might say twice, but it was to go again. And that especially
is on my spirit tonight, go again. Still pray, we'll sing a bit
in our last hymn. Still pray, for God will all
explain, nor shalt thou seek his face in vain. I want to then look in the last
place at an application beyond prayer. Go again. What about going to hear the
Word preached? You might think, well, we'll
go and hear, we'll go and listen to the Word preached. And in expectation, the Lord
will bless you and favour you. But he doesn't. But what an encouragement,
go again. Go on here again. Go on visit
again. And what a blessing it is if
we have ventured once and the Lord has blessed us and that
has made us go again. Remember one such time, special
service at Tunbridge Wells, and the children were small and they
were playing on the farm down at Tenterton. My dear one and
I, we went to hear what we thought was going to be Robert Field.
And we got into the service. We were only going to go to one
service of the two special services. We sat down. We were slightly
late coming in. And we thought, well, that's
not Robert in the pulpit. That's Seth Mercer. And Robert
had taken ill, and Seth Mercer had come. And when he had been
phoned up, The word had dropped in that the Lord would have him
to bring, hear him, I, send me, and he preached from that. And
in a way he preached us from Australia to here, and it was
so encouraging, it was such a blessing to us. After that service, we
phoned up those who had the children and said, can you keep those
We're going back for the second service, the evening service.
And those are special times, when the Lord so blesses the
Word, that you want to go again, and you want to hear again. It's whet your appetite. You've
heard the Lord speaking in it, and the Lord's helped you, and
you go again. There's nothing really that will
encourage us in the throne of grace. If you've found answers
to prayer, you want to go again. If you've been reading the Word
of God and your Lord's met you there and blessed you there,
you want to go again to that Word. Those places, the Hymn
writer says, does thou mind the place where Jesus did thee meet? And you go again to those places
because of what they mean. You know Bethel. Jacob was brought
again to Bethel. Where is the God of Bethel? The
house of God. Why? God had blessed him there.
and he made that place special, so he went again there. It's a blessed thing if the Lord
makes our homes a blessing, Bethel, if he makes the house of God,
a particular place of worship, a blessing, a Bethel to our souls. Go again. Another aspect of looking
at this is evangelism. Stewards of the Word of God to
go into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature,
to make the Word of God known in the area where we are. We
have the Bibles out here. Several times we leaflet the
town and there seems to be no effect, no witness at all. Times that we've spoken with
neighbours and you think, what good is it? There's no blessing. what shall prosper. And so it
is to be encouraged in giving the word, in speaking the word,
in being a witness, salt and light to the Lord. Another time,
another aspect, maybe completely in a providential matter. Remember how I got my apprenticeship
in engineering? And I had applied to the steel
mill, and they rejected me because of a heart murmur and several
other things. And I think the medical man there,
he saw I wouldn't fit in to the rough people that were there.
I was 16 at the time, a four-year apprenticeship. But how I was
found out that I'd been rejected was in a way that they gave me
a second opportunity, as long as I got an angiogram and sorted
my heart out. So I had to go into hospital
three days for that, and in the meantime, I saw an advert for
a job in a hospital as a maintenance engineer, as an apprenticeship,
and I applied for that. And my heart was towards that,
instead of the steel mill. And I wanted that position. But
then I noticed that they'd advertised it again, and they hadn't given
me an opportunity to meet them, to have an interview. So I promptly
rang up the hospital and I said, excuse me, I applied for this
job, I want this job, you haven't asked for an interview, why?
And they said to me, well, you live too far away. But what they
didn't know, and they muddled up where I lived and where my
school was. I was 10 miles away from the
hospital one way, and the school where I attended was 10 miles
the other way, so they thought it was 20 miles away. When they
found out they'd made a mistake and it was only 10 miles, then
they said, well, come in for an interview. So I came in for
an interview. No one else applied for that
second time they advertised. But if I'd kept quiet, I'd never
gotten that job. And that job, it was a special
link and provision for me. So it was right that I should
go again and approach it again, not just leave it go. The next
year, when they applied for a plumber, an electrician apprentice, they
had 118 applications for each position. And it was a wonderful
contrast to me, a wonderful provision for me. There are some times
we must just let something go and we cannot follow it up, but
there are other times it is go again. And the Lord knows when
those times are, when to move, when to stay, when to pursue
a matter and when to drop it. But we're not to always think,
well, If it is of the Lord, then, I mean, I could have said it
was in those days, it was days of my own regeneracy, I did not
know the Lord then. But I could have said, well,
the way's been stopped up, I'm not going to force it. But the
Lord gave me at that time that desire to go again, to follow
it up, and the proving of it, it was of the Lord. And so you
may feel then as well, your own application to this word, not
just limited to prayer, not even to the examples that I've put,
but in your path in providence, the Lord knows what you're going
through, go again, go again. May the Lord bless this word,
and may we truly know that our hearts are turned back again,
our hearts are turned to the Lord, and that we are blessed of what is set before us in the
word such as here, that the word comes where we are. The Lord
brings it where we are and applies it. And to have this persuasion,
thou God seest me, thou know my heart, thou hast brought thy
word for me this evening. May the Lord bless it thus. Amen.