Signs of the Times

with contributions from Eugene S. Wehrli, R. P. Marshall

Dr. Eugene S. Wehrli
in The Link
Washington, District of Columbia

In the history of mankind prayer has been ridiculed and rejected, even explained away as a psychological quirk, and yet at every stage of human history we find men praying. Prayer has outlived man's doubts, his moments of despair, and his sense of futility. What is there about prayer that gives it this powerful tenacity? Why is it that prayer survives man's deepest skeptic ism and even his antagonism toward religion?

The reason is that prayer is rooted in man's very nature. It is as basic a need as friendship. It is as natural an expression as talking....

Prayer is the seeking and the enjoying of the company and the presence of God, and while at the crucial moments of life and in times of trouble all men may tend to turn and seek the God who is the source of their lives, yet unless we seek and enjoy his presence and converse with him on many occasions and at various stages in life we do not know what true fellowship with God is.

It is much harder to set up a communication system from scratch and learn how to use it during troublesome weather than it is to operate and maintain a system that was set up and used in favorable weather....

It is important for us to keep in touch with God...to keep... the communication lines open. If we do, he is always at our side and sustains us all the moments of life. Continual fellowship gives us the best support possible in life.

R. P. Marshall
in The War Cry
Chicago, Illinois

We live in a world of illusion, if we live only in the world of sense. How sure are you of what you see and hear and feel?...

The only reality is perceived by the eyes of faith. But the unspiritual person has no faith—and thus no eyes. He has blindfolded himself in a world of illusion. Says Paul, "They have stifled their consciences and then surrendered themselves to sensuality" [Eph. 4:19, Letters to Young Churches by J. B. Phillips]. Lacking spiritual sight, they have sought to use their physical senses to bring them material reality. But the senses bring only disillusionment with illusions....

There is a life which is without illusion. There is a way of looking at life which recognizes its sin, trouble and danger and yet which faces it unafraid, secure in the knowledge that this is God's world and we are His children.

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July 12, 1958

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