Affliction
Affliction makes us pray in a very real and sincere way; Jonah was asleep in the ship when unaware of the raging storm outside, but he was in earnest prayer in the whale’s belly after being cast into the sea and swallowed by that great fish.
Perhaps in a time of health and prosperity we tend to pray in a cold and formal manner. If we are careless and indifferent about our prayers, how could we expect God to answer them?
This is why God often sends some trial or circumstance, to make us take hold of Himself and deepen our sense of dependence. In the Old Testament we read of certain ones, “They poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them” (Isaiah 26:16). In times of trouble we pray feelingly, and we never pray so fervently as when we pray feelingly. When God puts His children in the school of affliction, He deals with them tenderly, because He does not leave them without a promise. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13). “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
