A LETTER TO YOUNG FRIENDS

My dear Young Friends:

Last month I called your attention to that remarkable declaration: “It shall come to pass, that whosover shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered” (Joel 2:32)—”shall be saved” (Rom. 10:10). A most wonderful thing is prayer. That the great God, most high and holy, should appoint a path of prayer wherein unworthy sinners should walk and whereby they should have recourse to Himself and His illimitable resources in their every need, is indeed an admirable effect of divine grace, wisdom, mercy, and love.

In these unprecedented times, you young people will probably be called upon to soon experience, it may be, further strange dislocations in your family and school life; and many of you will shortly be absorbed into some branch of the Armed Forces, and be compelled to leave your homes for surroundings of discomfort and peril; into circumstances wherein you will encounter many temptations.

What a vast difference between the condition of those who are without God and those who are favored with a heart to know and to confide in Him! The former are entirely without a refuge, and can but ultimately perish; though now insensible of their real danger and, it may be, strong and confident in their natural resources, the time of need and extremity will prove all natural defenses utterly inadequate and at length entirely unavailing. But the latter, praying people, what a favored lot is theirs! Not that they will escape all trouble, but in every afflictive dispensation, in each new trial and distress, in every emergency, there is for them a refuge in the eternal God: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deu. 33:27). Not to the stupid and immoral and dissolute diversions of the concert room, the cinema, the dance hall (provided alas! for the British and the American troops), but to the sure refuge of the God of all grace as He makes Himself known in His blessed Word, and as accessible through the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne of heavenly grace, will the new-born soul retreat in times of need.

Prayer is a sacred privilege for sinners, who long to be freed not merely from danger and inconveniences, but from sin itself. In all true prayer there will be the spirit of confession. In his deepest distress a praying person realizing the guilt of his sin, and his unworthiness, is welcome to the Mercy-Seat. For it is only through the sin-atoning Sacrifice of Calvary and the meritorious obedience of the Lord Jesus, and by His intercession, that a sinner can find an open way to God. And O it is an invaluable blessing, and unspeakable honor, to be allowed to pray with faith in Jesus’ Name! Not only deliverance, supplies, helps, defense, guidance, strength, but peace, comfort, and communion with God, are freely given to praying people; and the end, eternal life, which no death can touch.

Holy though He is, and just, yet the Lord God of heaven and earth admits to His secret those poor needy people who fear Him and depend upon Him. Hart says:

“When all the help of man proves vain,
Then, then to have recourse to God,
To pour a prayer in time of need,
And feel the balm of Jesus’ blood,
This is to find a Friend indeed.”

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