When the heart sets itself to pray for the winning of another’s heart, we do well to remember what manner of love first won ours. That love has always its jealous neighbor not far off, for where there is an intense love like that which glows in the bosom of God, there must be a holy watchfulness. You have found in your heart to pray this prayer, and that is no small thing, for David had to look for his prayer in his heart, and there he found it because his was a living heart, a believing heart, a serious heart. Yet search that heart a little further. The Lord may need to put that question three times because we have given Him treble cause for mistrusting us as to whether our heart is right before Him. Is this affection you seek something born of the Spirit, a spark of the eternal flame, or does it arise out of mere natural affection? The heart is so corrupt that love to God never did get there without God’s putting it there, and a love that He would bless must be a fruit, not a root.
Consider the time when His abounding love was declared to you. It was when you were in exile, when He had redeemed you and called you by your name. He chose you for His love and then loved you for His choice. And now, if He seems to withhold this other heart from you, might it be that He is jealous over you? Oftentimes the Lord Jesus Christ loves His people so much that He takes away those whom they love too much, that He may have all their hearts for Himself. This is not a dark shadow of a blessing unrealized, it is the tender surgery of One who binds up broken hearts. There is One who can heal that very ache, for He knows what it is to be pierced. Fall at His feet; bring your poor broken heart to the heart that was pierced by the soldier’s spear. I know what despair means, but there is hope for you.
Therefore, let this prayer be purified in the fountain of His own love. Do not cease to plead, for importunity wins the day, yet let your cry be that which suits every believer and every place: “Lord, help me!” Help me to love You first and wholly. Help me to trust You with this desire. Help me to be willing to take my son, my only son Isaac, whom I love, and offer him up if that is Your will. When we pray thus, we find a place of refuge. The future, after all, must be the grand object of the eye of faith. He may give the double mercy you seek, and if He does, you shall dance for joy. But if not, He gives Himself, and is not that heaven on earth? His children shall have a place of refuge. Therefore, pray on, but let your prayer be found in a humble heart, lying on the floor of your soul, put there by the Lord Jesus Himself. For He knows what He is doing with you, and He cannot and will not let you die. Is the heart right with God? Are you clinging to an idol, or are you clinging to the Cross? That is the question, and when that is settled, you shall find sweetest rest. The God of peace be with you.