The house in which you dwell, in this life, has God for its Landlord, and you are but a tenant under His sovereign lease. Every second you hold your life and goods upon the sole tenure of His Divine will, and there is this clause in the lease which some never observe: the Landlord has at all times the right to enter and leave His own property. Is it your desire, as a just tenant, to restore to Him His property unhurt, leaving no trace of injury done to God but many memorials of service rendered? Then offer the key of your house to the Great Landlord now, and see this trouble with an earthly landlord as a call to examine your own lease with the Most High.
You ask prayer for compensation, and rightly so, for the injuries you have suffered are real. Yet remember that the Lord’s ways are not our ways. There is not a word in the Book of Divine Love which can breathe comfort into the sinner’s ear while he chooses his own ways. How many a man has rottenness in his bones and disease in his heart’s core brought on by gluttony, drunkenness, and vice? It is not God who has thickly sown this world with disease and sorrow, man’s iniquity has done it. Men cast darnel and cockle into the furrows of life, and when they spring up, they complain of the appointments of God, whereas they are the result of their own sins! Your landlord’s negligence has caused your suffering, and it is right to seek redress. But if you insist upon being held harmless and try at all costs to make provision for the flesh, then you shall find that you will have to pay the fare to your own grievous hurt and injury. What did Jonah lose when he fled from God’s presence? Render calamity impossible, and what mark would there be of the Divine displeasure for man’s revolt? Wherein would sin differ as to its consequences from obedience and holiness? Think for a little, and you will see reason for God’s staying His hand from immediate rescue.
You have asked prayers for a month, and no communication, no remorse, no willingness to compensate. This is a test of your faith. Divine interpositions of a miraculous sort would not always be attended with the advantage we suppose. If miracles of mercy snatched us from every trial, we would never learn to trace Divine sovereignty in all things. The present is the most godless generation that ever trod this earth, I verily believe, because men will not recognize God’s hand. But David, when wronged, found that Divine gentleness restrained the blow. How strikingly has God delivered some of us! Not miraculous, certainly, but full of wonder. And you, sitting in the house of prayer, may yet say, “He hath delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” Wait, then, upon the Lord.
Do you wonder that your landlord’s conscience remains unstirred? The opinion of a man marching to hell concerning the justice of hell is not impartial. No convinced sinner ever rails at God’s justice; he smites his hand upon his breast and says, “O sinner that I am!” Pray for this man, yes, that the Holy Spirit would awaken and stir him to repentance. It is a blessed interposition of Divine grace when a sinner is turned from his way. But while you pray, examine your own heart. My dear friend, there may be some who rail at God’s justice; but no truly humble soul will. If you are in Christ, then Justice itself stands no longer in the way of your pardon. Doth Justice come to you and say, “Sinner, thou hast sinned, I will punish thee?” Answer thus: “Justice, thou hast punished all my sins. All I ought to have suffered has been suffered by my substitute, Jesus.” God can be just, and yet the Justifier. Then if the eternal claim is satisfied, can you not bear temporal loss with patience? He died for the very injury that others did to Him, for His enemies, for the men that hate and scorn Him.
Therefore, commit this matter to the Lord who leads you alone. He is your Divine Instructor, training you as an eagle trains its young for flight. He stirs the nest, He flutters over you, He thrusts you out into the air of trial that you may learn to fly. If you knew the meaning, you would bless the hand which tears away your comforts, seeing Divine Wisdom and Infinite Affection in it all. You have asked prayer for your landlord’s conscience. We do pray that the Holy Spirit will stir him to do good and repent. But first, let your own spirit be free from clamour. Acknowledge that you live on sufferance as His tenant, and then, even as David found a balm for his wounded spirit in Divine love, you shall find that His gentleness makes you great. The Lord alone did lead Israel; the Lord alone will lead you. Trust Him with the outcome. His Divine presence is the one hope of His people.