Dr. King, Charles Spurgeon, and Jesus Christ
Friday, January 19, 2024
“Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred.” – C.H. Spurgeon
On Monday night at our Living H2O Initiative, I spoke about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Specifically, I focused on his belief that the best way to confront and overcome racial prejudice and other injustices was through nonviolent civil disobedience. In fact, prior to many of his major Civil Rights initiatives such as the Birmingham Bus Boycott, the Selma to Montgomery March, or the Freedom Rides, Dr. King and his associates conducted workshops for their volunteers, preparing them for the verbal insults and physical attacks they were sure to encounter, experience, and endure along the way.
In similar fashion, Charles Spurgeon urged his readers to counter hatred with prayer. And not just prayer, mind you… but earnest, fervent, consistent, and expectant intercession before God’s throne.
“As a shadow has no power because there is no substance in it, even so that supplication in which a man’s proper self is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement desire is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would give it force.”
“Fervent prayer,” says an old divine, “like a cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open.” The common fault with most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving here and there, and we make little progress toward our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together but rolls off this way and that.
“David did not cry once and then relapse into silence; his holy clamor was continued till it brought down the blessing.”
Combining King’s and Spurgeon’s admonitions, Jesus offered the following instruction to his disciples…
“But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also…” Matthew 5:39 (BSB)
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Matthew 5:44 (CSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
(See also Luke 18:1-8, Romans 12:17-21, I Thessalonians 5:17, and James 5:16)
