Your request concerning your car has been laid before the Lord and before His people with sincere sympathy. We understand the trial of unexpected damage, the dented fender and broken mirror and shattered window, and the added weight of small means to meet a large need. We understand also the tender sentiment attached to this vehicle, which came to you from your late grandmother and which you desire to keep and to tend in her honor. Such affection is natural and comely, and grief for those who have gone before us is not forgotten by our God.
We would exhort you as you wait upon the Lord in this matter to remember two truths which the Scriptures set before us. The first is that of faithful stewardship. Nothing is our own, it is all our Master's, and what He entrusts to us we are to keep with diligence and care, not idling nor growing careless nor leaving our hearts out of our work, but acting as those who must give account. To seek an honest workman and a fair price, to be prudent and not wasteful either of your own substance or of another's, is itself a part of godliness and good stewardship.
The second is our Saviour's own injunction, Do not be so affected by external things as to get into a state of worry, fretfulness, care, anxiety and distress. Be prudent in temporal affairs, yet do not be anxious about them. As we have often observed, anxiety has never comforted any soul, nor has it ever brought any grist to the mill or any meal to the barrel. Indeed the very anxiety which arises through being in a difficulty unfits us to meet that difficulty. Your heavenly Father knows your need, and He who supplied the widow's barrel so that it did not waste can supply your need according to His wisdom and goodness.
Let us pray for you.
O Lord our God, Thou knowest the need of Thy servant who brings this burden before Thee. Thou seest the brokenness of this car which has been a stewardship in his hands, and the straitness of his means. We ask Thee in Thy mercy to provide what is needed for these repairs, to direct him to honest and skillful hands, to grant favor that the work may be done well and quickly and at a low cost, if it be Thy will. Keep him from anxious care, and give him quiet trust in Thy providence. Comfort his heart in the remembrance of his grandmother, and turn his affection into thanksgiving to Thee, from whom every good gift comes, and in whose hands are all our days. Help him to use what Thou hast entrusted to him for Thy honor, remembering that Thou wilt come, and that faithful stewardship shall have its reward. All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who careth for us. Amen.
May the Lord keep you in peace as you commit this matter to Him, and may He make you to know His sufficient grace in this as in all things.
