Consider how numerous and significant the matters are that lie
submission to Him? Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.
God has something to say to us as a friend every day: through His written word, in which we must hear His voice, through His providences, and through our own consciences. He listens to hear if we have anything to say to Him in reply—and it would be very unfriendly of us if we did not. When He says to us, Seek ye my face, should not our hearts respond as to one we love, Thy face, Lord, we will seek? When He says to us, Return, ye backsliding children, should we not readily reply, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God? If He speaks to us with conviction and reproof, ought we not to reply with confession and submission? If He speaks to us with comfort, should we not respond with praise? If you love God, you will not struggle to find something to say to Him— something for your hearts to pour out before Him, which His grace has already placed there.
2. As to a master we serve and have business with. Consider how numerous and significant the matters are that lie between us and God, and you will quickly realise that you have much to say to Him. We are in constant dependence upon Him; all our expectations are from Him. We continually interact with Him, for He is God with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13).
Do we not know that our happiness is bound up in His favour? It is life—the life of our souls—and it is better than life itself, better than the life of our bodies. And do we not have business with God to seek His favour, to entreat it with our whole hearts, to plead for it as though for our very lives, that He would lift up the light of His countenance upon us, and to present Christ's righteousness as the only basis on which we can hope to obtain God's lovingkindness?
Do we not know that we have offended God, that through sin we have made ourselves deserving of His wrath and curse, and that we daily add to our guilt? And do we not, therefore, have more than enough reason to go to Him—to confess our faults and our folly, to ask for pardon through the blood of Christ, and, in Him who is our peace, to make peace with God? Should we not renew our covenants with Him, relying on His strength to go forward and sin no more?
Do we not know that we have daily work to do for God and for our own souls—the work of the day that must be done in its day? And do we not have business with God to ask Him to show us what He would have us do, to direct us in it, and to strengthen us for it? Should we not seek His assistance and acceptance, asking Him to work in us both to will and to do that which is good, and then to recognise and bless His own work? This is the kind of business a servant has with his master.
Do we not know that we are continually in danger? Our bodies are at risk, along with our lives and comforts. We are constantly surrounded by disease and death—whose arrows fly by night and at noonday. And do we not have business with God, whether going out or coming in, lying down or rising up, to place ourselves under the protection of His providence and to ask that we may be kept by His holy angels? How much more are our souls at risk, and their lives and comforts? It is our souls that our adversary the devil—a strong and cunning enemy—wars against, seeking to devour. Do we not then have business with God to place ourselves under the protection of His grace, to clothe ourselves with His armour so that we may be able to stand against Satan's schemes and attacks? We need God's help so that we are neither surprised into sin by a sudden temptation nor overpowered by a strong one.
Do we not know that we are dying daily, that death is at work within us and steadily approaching, and that death will take us to judgment? And do we not know that judgment will determine our eternal state? Should we not, therefore, have something to say to God in preparation for what lies ahead? Shall we not pray, Lord, make us to know our end! Lord, teach us to number our days! Do we not have business with God to examine ourselves so that we may not be judged, and to ensure that our matters are right and well-ordered?
Do we not know that we are members of that body of which Christ is the head? Are we not concerned to prove ourselves to be living members? Do we not have business with God on behalf of the church, to make intercession for it? Have we nothing to say for Zion? Nothing to plead for Jerusalem's ruined walls? Nothing to pray for the peace and welfare of the land of our birth? Are we not part of the family of God—or are we merely children in it—that we would not concern ourselves with its affairs?
Do we have no relatives or friends dear to us, whose joys and griefs we share? And have we nothing to say to God on their behalf? No complaints to bring, no requests to make known? Are none of them unwell or in distress? Are none of them struggling with temptation or disheartened? And do we not have errands to the throne of grace, to seek relief and help for them?
Now, consider all this, and then reflect on whether you truly have nothing to say to God each day—especially in times of trouble, when it is fitting to say to Him, I have borne chastisement (Job 34:31), and when, if you have any understanding of your situation, you will say to Him, Do not condemn me (Job 10:2).
c. If you have all this to say to God, what should stop you from saying it—every day? Why should He not hear your