We Imagine We Do Wonders

Here is John Calvin on Christ praying through the night prior to chosing the twelve. (Luke 6:12-19)

"It was necessary then that God should direct the choice he [Jesus] was to make. That is why he prayed so earnestly. Not as we are accustomed to pray, carelessly and as mere formality: he spent the whole night in prayer. Notice how this rebukes our own lazy and cold practice. We imagine we are doing wonders when we pray morning and night; we feel we are being suitably spiritual despite our many distractions which get in our way. But it is a very different pattern which our Lord sets for us here. He keeps watch until daybreak, concerned and in distress of soul until he finds rest in God, laying before him his many cares for the church."