Prayer and Self-Reliance* – Sunday, February 08, 1948
It is good to be self-reliant and to feel within ourselves the power to make our lives conform to the blueprints of our dreams and worthy ambitions. But there are times when all of us are confronted with circumstances and situations which are beyond our power to control or understand, for which we must seek help and answer beyond ourselves. There are times when life deals roughly with us. And at such times men who have learned to pray—who have made an earnest practice of it—find comfort and courage and confidence beyond their own strength and understanding.
Of course, there are those who would explain that prayer is helpful only because of the psychological effect it has upon the one who prays rather than because of any help that comes from any outside source. Let all who desire to do so take such comfort as they can in this cold rationalization. But the kind of prayer that most helps a man to walk through difficulties and uncertainties with comfort and confidence is that prayer in which he knows that he is talking to his Friend and Father in heaven even as he would talk to his father on earth. To pray is not as if one were to call into a cavern, to hear only the return of his own voice, the echo of his own hopes. To pray is rather like the quiet communion of friends who speak to each other with understanding, even when they don’t audibly utter all that comes to mind.
We may surround ourselves with all the material comforts that this world has to offer. We may live our lives within a circle of congenial friends. We may be blessed with the warm kinship of a devoted family. But there are times when all of us need comfort and consolation, counsel and understanding beyond all these, and beyond our own personal powers. And there is no loneliness so great as the loneliness of a man who, in his time of need, cannot pray with confidence that he is being heard. It is good to be in communication with a source of help at all times, rather than desperately to grope for it only in emergencies. It is good to know a friend in times of peace and prosperity so that we may not be strangers at the door in times of urgent need.
* Revised from Unto the Hills and This Day and Always.
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, February 8, 1948, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, EST. Copyright 1948.
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February 08, 1948
Broadcast Number 0,964