The cry of your heart has not fallen upon a deaf heaven. It is a blessed sign when a soul, in the grip of present trial, flees directly to the throne of grace, casting itself upon the name of Jesus Christ Almighty. This is the very mark of a living faith, for the natural man kicks against the goad of circumstance, but the child of God turns his face to the wall and whispers, “My help comes from the Lord.” Your prayer is the arrow shot into the sky, but remember this: deliverance is of the Lord, and it must be wrought by His own right hand.
You speak of needing Divine Intervention in your current circumstances. Let this truth sink deep into your spirit: all your ills lie within the fence of Omnipotent overruling. How hopeless would be our condition if a single trial could befall us independent of Divine permission, outside the sacred zone of Providential government! It is a dark providence that brings you low, but it is a providence nonetheless. The Lord has not abdicated His throne. He who made Heaven and Earth is still the Master of storms, and not a single wave can swallow you up unless He bids it do so. Though you may feel so troubled that you cannot speak to any other, pour out that unutterable grief before Him who reads the language of a groaning heart. Your case is difficult, but He is strong enough. The power of God is past finding out, and it is in the extremity of human weakness that His strength is made perfect.
Perhaps a fiery dart has been shot at your faith, a whispering suggestion that God has shut His ear and will never move His arm for you. Put up the Divine buckler against this assault! The fact stands eternal, written in the blood of the covenant: God has never forsaken them that put their trust in Him, and He never will. Consider the annals of the saints who have gone before. The God that helped Moses at the Red Sea will help you. The arm that brought Israel forth from Egypt, with silver and gold, and not a feeble one among their tribes, has not grown short. He feels your sorrow, He knows the weight of your chain, and He is fashioning your deliverance even while the night seems deepest. You cannot trace His footsteps, but you can trust His heart. The great difficulty is that when Divine Grace seems to decline, fancy rules the mind and the soul begins to grow weary of the Word of God. Do not drop the sacred promise just as you are about to grasp it. Cling to the Scripture, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”
Consider the end of this trial, which is already determined in the courts of Heaven. Your deliverance, when it arrives, will be effectual and complete. The Lord does not merely release the fetters; He brings His captives out. He will lead you from the Egypt of your present sorrow, and not by a way that would allow you to take an atom of the honor for yourself. You feel you can do nothing, and you know it. This is a gracious preparation. It is always one great object of the Divine dealings to make and keep us humble. The empty vessel is the one He fills. The helpless soul is the one He defends. The death of self-reliance is the life of faith. When your own strength is utterly exhausted, then the ransom has been found, and the messenger of Divine Justice gives way to the Angel of the Covenant, saying, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.”
Therefore, let your conduct, even now, be one of declaration. If we had no troubles, we would have less to declare of His mighty works. Before the deliverance has fully dawned, speak of His praises in the night watches. Let your faith hold the victory before your eyes see it. The weapon of prayer, when wielded with importunity by a soul that does not doubt the Divine power, shoots the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance into the very heart of the Syrian host. Be not content with smiting the ground only three times. Ask, seek, knock, and believe with a holy violence that expects an answer. The eternal Spirit helps the infirmities of His saints. You will yet sit upon the Rock of Ages, above these surging waves, and joyfully sing praises unto your Divine Deliverer. Stand still, and see the salvation of God.