Old Thomas Fuller said, “Man’s owning his weakness is the only stock for God thereon to graft the grace of his assistance.” Confession implies humility, and this, in God’s sight, is of great price.
A farmer went with his son into a wheat field to see if it was ready for the harvest. “See, father,” exclaimed the boy, “how straight these stems hold up their heads! They must be the best ones. Those that hang their heads down, I am sure cannot be good for much.”
The farmer plucked a stalk of each kind and said, “See here, foolish child! This stalk that stood so straight is light-headed, and almost good for nothing; while this that hung its head so modestly is full of the most beautiful grain.”
Outspokenness is needful and powerful, both with God and man. We need to be honest and frank with ourselves.
A soldier said in a revival meeting, “My fellow soldiers, I am not excited; I am convinced – that is all.
I feel that I ought to be a Christian, that I ought to say so, to tell you so, and to ask you to come with me.
And now if there is a call for sinners seeking Christ to come forward, I for one shall go – not to make a show, for I have nothing but sin to show.
I do not go because I want to – I would rather keep my seat. But going will be telling the truth. I ought to be a Christian, I want to be a Christian, and going forward for prayers is just telling the truth about it.” More than twenty went with him.
Speaking of Pharaoh’s words, Intreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me (Exodus 8:8), Charles Spurgeon said:
A fatal flaw is manifest in that prayer. It contains no confession of sin. He says not, “I have rebelled against the Lord; entreat that I may find forgiveness!”
Nothing of the kind; he loves sin as much as ever. A prayer without penitence is a prayer without acceptance. If no tear has fallen upon it, it is withered. Thou must come to God as a sinner through a Savior, but by no other way.
He who comes to God like the Pharisee, with, “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are,” never draws near to God at all; but he who cries, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” has come to God by the way which God has himself appointed. There must be confession of sin before God, or our prayer is faulty.
Dwight L. Moody
Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 26, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts.
