Cry to the Lord

Men, and women, and children, when in trouble, cry without a book; and so when a man really wants the Savior, he does not require book-prayers. Never say, “Oh, I cannot pray!” My dear friend, can you cry? You want to be saved; tell the Lord that. If you cannot say it in words, tell it with your tears, your groans, your sighs, your sobs. Prayer, like crying, is a natural utterance, and an utterance available on all occasions. As sure as a child is in trouble, it can cry without putting on its best frock; and so can we without gowns and copes and surplices. No child needs to be educated in Greek and Latin in order to know how to cry, neither is learning needed in order to effectual prayer. God teaches all his little ones to pray as soon as they are born; they have but to confess their sins, and plead their necessities, and they do really pray. Never is a child in such a bad plight that it cannot cry. It never says, “Mother, it is so dark I cannot see to cry;” no, no, the child cries in the dark. And are you in the dark, and in terrible doubt and trouble? Then cry away, my dear friend, cry away, cry away; your Father will hear and deliver you.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Consolation For The Despairing," delivered December 7, 1873. Image by visualpanic on Flickr under Creative Commons License.