The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: Luke 15:11-32

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”
Psalm 51:12

A Treasure Regained

David occupied a throne. He was an outstanding statesman and was endowed with great ability as a musician and a poet. He was wealthy – but he was unhappy. He had lost something without which his many other blessings were empty. He calls it the joy of God’s salvation. He once had it. It had enriched his youth. It had sustained him through the years when he carried heavy responsibilities. But grievous sins, which had driven him into depths, had robbed him of it. Pathetically, he pleads that it may be given back to him.
We need to offer the same prayer. Our sins tarnish the joy of God’s salvation. Our work and our pleasures tend to crowd it into an obscure corner of our hearts. We may still retain the form of godliness. But it’s radiance has been dimmed. We attend services, but we sing listessly. We listen half-heartedly to the Word of God. We may begin to wonder whether it even pays to go to worship anymore. Little or nothing has happened within us that helps for the problems of tomorrow.
There is a way back to that godly joy we once held so dear to our hearts. The first step is to re-examine our life in view of God’s Law. The next is to look at God’s salvation. It is a salvation to inspire joy, born of love in the heart of God. God’s own Son dies for it. This assures us of God’s unfailing care – here and in eternal life beyond.

April 21, 1955