Saturday, March 15, 2008

Finite and infinite.

AELW 3:157-158

"One may observe here that God always grants more than we are able to ask for or to understand.

Accordingly, one should learn that those who want to pray properly should accustom themselves to pray with confidence and not to be deterred either by the greatness of the things to be granted or by the unworthiness of their praying.

Paul’s statement in Eph. 3:20 is well known. “To Him” he says, “who is able to do far more than we ask or think.” Therefore God’s title and true name is this, that He is a Hearer of prayers. But we, the petitioners, are called those who do not know how to pray or what to pray for. Our hearts are too feeble for us to be able to grasp the importance of the matter; we trouble ourselves with questions about when, where, and by what means God is willing to hear us. These matters we picture to ourselves beforehand within such narrow bounds that we wrestle constantly with unbelief.

Therefore we must combine these two incomparables, as they are called: the finite and the infinite. Our narrowly defined petitions and our desires and vows are something finite and are exceedingly petty in comparison with that boundless and immeasurable return which God constantly wants to put into practice toward us."

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