November 10

“What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign Lord.” — 2 Sam 7:20

Who has not felt in prayer the utter inadequacy of speech–to express his heart’s deep longings? We try to tell God of our sorrow for sin, our hunger after righteousness; but we can tell him only the merest fraction of what we feel. Words are never large enough for thought. No poet ever gets into his lines–the whole of the vision of beauty which floats before his soul. No true orator ever finds sentences majestic enough–to express the sentiments that burn in his breast. Deep, pure love–is never able to put into language its most sacred feelings. It is only the commonplace of the inner life–that can be interpreted in words. There is always more, which lies unexpressed, than is uttered in speech.

In one of Paul’s epistles, there is a wonderful word which shows how God understands our unexpressed prayers. “Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” God is able to answer prayer, not only beyond what we can express–but even beyond what we can think. He knows our deepest and most sacred feelings. Even the hungers of our heart, the longings of our soul–he understands. We need not fret because we cannot tell God all that we feel or desire. He reads all that is within our heart, and answers not our mere words–but our yearnings, our longings.