The Pleas and Arguments that Prevail with God

A meditation on God's salvific power for his glory and name alone.

“Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!”

Psalm 79:9

Introduction

I do not promise in this very short write-up to explain every detail of our text. Yet I only want to attempt to draw your attention to something desperately needed today. I want to show you two things that prevail with God. My hopes are that it will rather awaken you to assess your own condition and that of the church in this gospel day.

God has had it much on his heart, from all eternity, to glorify his dear and only begotten Son. There are some special seasons that he appoints to that end, in which He comes forth with omnipotent power to fulfil his promise and oath to him.”

- Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England

Christ promised to build his church amidst the onslaughts of hell. And there are no doubts that he is keeping this promise. Yet it seems to me that in various generations the church has hung, as it were, on the precipice of spiritual decline. And it goes without saying that we are currently in that state today. If we don’t see it, friends, it only shows that we are doubly blind. The tragedy of the Laodicean church was not merely their blindness, but the unawareness of blindness.¹

Christ who promised to build his church, urged them to consider the slippery slope upon which they stood so carelessly. It was Edwards who reminded the church goers of his day that they hung on the very precipice of hell and the only thing stopping them from falling was the mercy of God. Therefore, they must call on God for salvation and deliverance.

The Plea

The general consequence of Edwards’ warning was a great awakening and the outpouring of God’s Spirit because they cried out for help. It is my belief that we are in such times of spiritual decline, and it behooves us to discover our sins and thus tremble in penitential cries to heaven. Remember how earnestly saints who saw the need of their day prayed for revival and awakening.

Remember their groanings and weeping. For they would sooner tarry all night than dwell without the assurance of the presence of God amongst them. Yet, it baffles me that we are presently content to live without the presence of God, and we wonder why we have so little effect on the world.

The text before us is a cry for help in similarly desperate times. Israel was in a terrible situation, and she needed her God to intervene. Similarly, down through the history of the church, men and women, moved by the Holy Spirit, have cried out to God for a divine intervention, as they surveyed the spiritual decline of the church and the sins which had taken root therein. For hundreds of years, the mainstream church clouded the truth, and thus there was immense darkness until Luther, Knox, and their compeers cried out to God for salvation. O where are the men who cry to God today earnestly? O where are the men who have ascended the heights of Zion and seen what glory and blessings God has for his church? Or are we merely theorizers of the truth?

The plea was for help. They could only plead for help because they had seen their present status quo of sin. However, how many of us acknowledge the visible church’s powerlessness and sinfulness before God? Yes, we say, “Lord, help me.” But do we say–look at the text–“Help us…Deliver us”? See the difference, friend. The former is a personal request; the latter is a collective request for a divine intervention.

Do we say with Daniel: “We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules”?² Or are we content to sing in our churches while the truth of God is mocked everywhere else and we lack the power and effectiveness of God’s Holy Spirit to share the Message of reconciliation and salvation, though it is available for a praying church?

One of the most helpful means of God’s blessing in my spiritual walk with him has been to keep a diary. I learned this through reading Augustine’s Confessions and the biographies of Brainerd and M’Cheyne. At the top of every page in my dairy, I paraphrase the words of Daniel: “Unto us, O Lord, belongs open shame, but unto you alone belongs mercy.”³ Until we see this very truth, that we are in a shameful state today, we would then begin to approach the matters as if we were at the gates of heaven and argue why we need God to intervene now.

The Argument

We have seen the pleas, though very briefly, that prevail with God. Let us talk about the arguments. At the outset, someone must stop me and point out the fact that we cannot argue with the Almighty, as to presume to instruct him. Yes, I agree. For he has “an inscrutable understanding.”⁴

Yet it seems to me there is a kind of argument that prevails with God. It is the kind of argument used by saints in such desperate times down through the corridors of history. Those saints who have discovered the secret that prevails in prayer have often used it and thus argued their way into divine intervention. Yet the modern theorizer void of spiritual fervency, though full of complacency, cannot understand such things. He is ever satisfied with his knowledge and never seeks to advance in spiritual matters–as though God were a two-inch-deep well.

“What is the argument then, brother?” It is simply as the Psalmist writes: “for the glory of your name.”⁵ This is the argument that prevails with God. When we remind him of his promise to exalt his name in the salvation of his people, he will act and intervene in our present trouble. In other words, when our plea for help is not a cry for our own selfish ends, but rather a deep concern for God’s glory, then we shall prevail with God. Read the history of the great awakening and revivals and observe carefully the arguments they made to God. Were they not imploring him to act for his name’s sake, lest the gentiles and heathens continue to say that God is not the Lord?

Jacob argued with God and prevailed. Moses argued with God upon the mountain and prevailed. Daniel argued with God as he prayed for God to remember his word and his glory, and he prevailed. The Apostles argued with God when they were beaten and reprimanded for speaking about his name, and they prevailed. For God filled them with his Spirit for greater tasks. Edwards, M’Cheyne, Brainerd, Whitefield, Wesley, the Moravian brethren, Blair, and many others earnestly argued with Him.

Prayer

O Lord, alarm us and we shall be alarmed and restored unto Thee! Look now at the dreadful condition of Thy church. Thou died for her and purchased her righteousness before Thee. Yet, behold how remaining sin, false doctrines, and all sorts of demonic influences run amok. However, Lord, through these things, Thou art in control. Therefore, as Thou answered the prayer of the saints when they prayed, “Revive us again, for Thy name’s sake,”⁶ Remember us today and revive us again for Thy glory! Reveal our sins and let us be bowed very low as in the days of old. Teach us never to forget your works in the previous generations, or to entertain fancies that we are somehow excluded from such blessings and outpourings of your Spirit. Yet raise us up again and restore us to great spiritual exploits as in the days of old. Thou art forever praised, God of power and mercy. Amen.

Todays post is a guest post brought by Providentia.

1. Revelation 3:14-22.

2. Daniel 9:5.

3. Daniel 9:7.

4. Isaiah 40:28, NASB.

5. Psalm 79:9.

6. Psalm 80:18.