We do not pray to God to instruct Him as to what He should do; neither for a moment must we presume to dictate the method of the divine working.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes humility in prayer, acknowledging that we do not control or instruct divine will.
Charles Spurgeon's quote illustrates the proper attitude to have when approaching God in prayer. Rather than treating prayer as a means to dictate or instruct God on what to do, Spurgeon advocates for understanding the divine perspective and submitting to God's will. This recognition of divine sovereignty encourages believers to approach prayer with reverence and humility, trusting that God knows best how to act in any given situation.
In practice
During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to teach about the nature of prayer.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
No matter whether one is flying over Newfoundland or the sea of lights that stretches from Boston to Philadelphia after nightfall, over the Arabian deserts which gleam like mother-of-pearl, over the Ruhr or the city of Frankfurt, it is as though there were no people, only the things they have made and in which they are hiding.
I'm the kind of person who jumps around when he talks because everything is connected.
Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not.
The rain falls upon the just And also on the unjust fellas But mostly it falls upon the just Cause the unjust have the just's umbrellas
I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.
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