Isaiah 1:15
One of the requisites of legitimate prayer is repentance. Hence the common declaration of Scripture: God does not listen to the wicked; their prayers, as well as their sacrifices, are an abomination to him. For it is right that those who seal up their hearts should find the ears of God closed against them, that those who, by their hardheartedness, provoke his severity should find him inflexible. In Isaiah he thus threatens, "When you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15). In like manner, in Jeremiah he says, "Though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them" (Jer. 11:7-8, 11); because he regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of his covenant while profaning his sacred name by their whole lives. Hence he complains in Isaiah, "This people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me; but have removed their heart far from me" (Isa. 29:13).
Indeed, he does not confine this to prayers alone, but declares that he abominates pretense in every part of his service. Hence the words of James, "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). It is true, indeed (as we shall again see in a little), that the pious, in the prayers which they utter, trust not to their own worth. Still the admonition of John is not superfluous, "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments" (1 John 3:22); an evil conscience shuts the door against us. Hence it follows, that none but the sincere worshippers of God pray aright, or are listened to. Let everyone, therefore, who prepares to pray feel dissatisfied with what is wrong in his condition, and assume, which he cannot do without repentance, the character and feelings of a poor beggar.
—John Calvin
Readings taken from Day by Day With John Calvin
One of the requisites of legitimate prayer is repentance. Hence the common declaration of Scripture: God does not listen to the wicked; their prayers, as well as their sacrifices, are an abomination to him. For it is right that those who seal up their hearts should find the ears of God closed against them, that those who, by their hardheartedness, provoke his severity should find him inflexible. In Isaiah he thus threatens, "When you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15). In like manner, in Jeremiah he says, "Though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them" (Jer. 11:7-8, 11); because he regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of his covenant while profaning his sacred name by their whole lives. Hence he complains in Isaiah, "This people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me; but have removed their heart far from me" (Isa. 29:13).
Indeed, he does not confine this to prayers alone, but declares that he abominates pretense in every part of his service. Hence the words of James, "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). It is true, indeed (as we shall again see in a little), that the pious, in the prayers which they utter, trust not to their own worth. Still the admonition of John is not superfluous, "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments" (1 John 3:22); an evil conscience shuts the door against us. Hence it follows, that none but the sincere worshippers of God pray aright, or are listened to. Let everyone, therefore, who prepares to pray feel dissatisfied with what is wrong in his condition, and assume, which he cannot do without repentance, the character and feelings of a poor beggar.
—John Calvin
Readings taken from Day by Day With John Calvin
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