THE SECOND WEEK IN ADVENT - FRIDAY

LESSON: ISAIAH 11:1-10

Thy kingdom come. Matthew 6:10

Even though the Lord’s Prayer is prayed on all sides throughout the world by countless numbers of people, there are really only very few who pray it correctly. For all but a very few would much prefer that there should never be any day of the Lord’s coming. What else is this but to wish that God’s kingdom should never come? In this way their heart prays against their mouth, and God judges according to the heart whereas they judge by the mouth.

So men devise and engage in many prayers, babble all the churches full in all the world, and all this goes by the name of prayer. But basically all this amounts to saying, “May Thy kingdom not come!” or, “May it not come yet!” Tell me, is not such prayer real blasphemy, of which the psalmist declares, “Let his prayer be counted as sin!” Psalm 109:7?

A tremendous amount of money and worldly goods is wasted in cramming every nook and corner with such blasphemy which men call the worship of God. Because there is such abuse in the use of prayer is no reason why the true children of God should not continue to pray earnestly to their heavenly Father for the coming of His kingdom and the full realization of all their hopes and joys.

SL.XI.65,48-49
AE 75,102

PRAYER: Enlighten and guide us by your grace, O Lord, that we always look forward to your coming in confidence and with our heads raised in joy. Amen.