One challenge that we face in the midst of trial and tragedy is the feeling of helplessness.  If we had it in our power, there would be many miracles we would work for the good of the sick, the grieving, the weak, and the defenseless.  But on our own, we are powerless to treat cancer, comfort a grieving country, or stop a future gunman.

Pastor and theologian J. C. Ryle explains what we can do:

No one ever performed such miracles as [Jesus] did.  No one ever spoke such words.  No one was ever so instant [urgent] in prayer.

Let our Lord’s conduct in this respect be our example.  We cannot work miracles as he did; in this he stands alone.  But we can walk in his steps in the matter of private devotion.  If we have the Spirit of sonship, we can pray.  Let us resolve to pray more than we have done hitherto.  Let us strive to make time, and place, and opportunity for being alone with God.

We live in an age of hurry, bustle, and so-called activity. [Ryle wrote these words in 1857!]  People are tempted continually to cut short their private devotions and abridge their prayers.  When this is the case, we need not wonder that the church of Christ does little in proportion to its machinery… We have little because we do not ask God (James 4:2).  J. C. Ryle, Mark, 94.

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