A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told me the following story:
‘Rising early one morning,’ he said, ‘I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds [deer hunting dogs] in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, when the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.’
So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God.” — A. C. DIXON.
E.M. Bounds uses that quote to start off his book The Necessity of Prayer. It’s a powerful image of us and our own dependancy on God. When I first knew God’s love, it was that moment of desperation, realising that there was no other God, there was no where else to turn, but sanctuary and refuge can only be found in Him.
And at the time, I was running away from myself. The self that I hated. The parts of my life and attitude and behaviour that I was so ashamed of. And although my faith in God was small, uncertain as to whether he could indeed save me, in my desperation there was a leap of faith into his arms – either he would save me or I would be better off dead.
Prayer is that act of faith. It is recognising and speaking to God. It is saying to Him, I need you. Though I cannot see you with my eyes, I cry out to you. I find my refuge in you.
If you have the time, Francis Chan has an amazing message on Prayer that you should listen to.
You can watch or download it
here, at DesiringGod.org
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These were some thoughts from the third in our series And So We Pray… The message is available here.You can find a related Bible study and previous messages on our Sunday messages page.