Your cry of long and weary torment has been heard, and it is a heavy burden to carry when days feel as one unending trial and the mind is worn with watching for an end that never seems to come. To be harassed and made to feel that every reaction is turned against you, to live guessing at deliverance while fear and exhaustion press sore upon the soul, is a deep affliction, and the Lord knows the weight of it.
There is a peace which the world gives and which the devil keeps for a season, but it has no foundation, for it is written, There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked. Do not rest in any false peace that comes through ignorance or through the thought that God takes no account of men. Pray rather with the Psalmist, Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. See to it that you are not a liar unto your own soul, but seek to be at peace with God through the precious blood of Christ.
Even the brave have known fear. David, who as a youth went in simple confidence in God against Goliath and was at home in battles, yet confesses that he was sometimes afraid. When my soul suffers from the palsy of fear, he says, I will lay hold upon the Strong One and get strength from Him, and so my fears shall all be cast out. God has not made this world to be a nest for us, and if we try to make it such, He plants thorns in it so that we may be compelled to mount and find our soul's true home in a higher and nobler sphere. I would urge you, and all who suffer in this way, to make it your constant habit to commit your way unto the Lord, to tell Him all your cares and to trust Him to sustain you.
For the Lord is the God of peace. He created nothing but peace, He justifies and thereby implants peace in the soul, He ordained peace, peace eternal with His children, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He brought Christ again from the dead as the God of peace, and He can say to every doubt, be still, and to every wind that blows across the soul, Peace, be still, for He preserves it. This peace is not only peace with God, but the peace of God which shall keep your hearts and minds. If you would realize it, hear the apostle, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice. Make God your joy and place all your joy in God, and then pray much, care for nothing and bless God from morning to night. In such an atmosphere shall peace grow as rare flowers bloom beneath sunny skies in well watered gardens.
And there is deliverance from the pit. Then He is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. Look unto Christ and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for He is God and there is none else. Look out of yourself and away from yourself, and look to Christ. I saw Him descend to earth and hide Himself in an infant's form, I saw Him toiling on in holy servitude to the perfect law, I saw Him give His hands to the nails and His side to the spear, and heard Him cry, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me. There is the ring of heavenly music in this message, I have found a ransom, therefore go you free and rejoice in the liberty that God has given you. Salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, and in Him alone is there refuge from sin and from the power of darkness.
You have asked that God would take vengeance into your own hands and remove those who do evil by death or by taking what they value until they yield. We cannot pray in that way, for vengeance belongs unto the Lord, and He has said He will repay. The Eternal abjures war as its author, though He will surely judge all wickedness in righteousness. We are taught to pray, in wrath remember mercy, and to ask that the Lord would restrain evil, bring the works of darkness to light, establish justice by lawful means, protect the afflicted, and, if it be His will, bring even enemies to repentance that they might live. Sin brings forth strife, but holiness is the mother of peace, and to make us perfect in every good work to do His will is to give us peace. So we pray that the God of peace would sanctify His people, keep them in sacred activity and make them fit to labor for Him.
Therefore we will pray for you and for all who suffer in like manner, that God would deliver you from going down to the pit, that He would be gracious unto you and show you the ransom that is in Christ, that He would give you peace with Himself and then the peace of God to keep your heart and mind, that He would restrain those who intend harm, frustrate their devices, and bring them either to repentance or to the just restraint of lawful authority, that He would grant you wisdom to seek safe and trusted help, the counsel of faithful pastors, the care of those skilled to help the troubled mind and body, and the fellowship of those who will not disbelieve your distress but will walk beside you, and that He would teach you day by day to commit your cause to Him who judges righteously.
May the Lord sustain you in trouble and deliver you out of it, so that you may yet say, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. My enemy struck at me and might make me fall, but in very truth my gracious God was using him to chasten me that I might not fall. The enemy was moved by malice, but God was working by him in love to my soul. May you be kept from giving way to misgivings and doubts and fears, and be enabled to magnify the Lord and rejoice in God your Savior, and to make a further dedication of yourself to your delivering God.
We commend you to the God of peace, who through the blood of the everlasting covenant is able to make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.