Spurgeon
Beloved of All
To be left in silence and to be lied about for so long is a sore and heavy trial, and the darkness you feel is known to the Lord who sees you. You ask what it means that God will fight you, and the Scripture gives the answer plainly, God resists the proud. Wherever He sees pride lifting itself on high, He sets Himself against it, He draws His bow against it, for He will not give His glory to another. Yet to the humble, to the broken, to those who cast themselves wholly upon His grace through Jesus Christ, He is not a God who fights against them, but a God who fights for them and who waits to be gracious unto them.
There is a waiting God and there must be a waiting people. The Lord waits that He may be gracious, His heart yearns toward His own, His oxen and His fatlings are killed and all things are ready, and He waits long in singular patience. While men may abandon and ghost and forget, He does not forget. As He saw Hagar in her distress and heard her cry, so He sees your tears and hears your crying out for help. It is true that God sees all, and that truth has a dark side to the wicked, but to His child it is comfort, for as He sees your ruin and your sadness, He has compassion upon you.
You desire to keep your vows and to honor your marriage, and this is right and good before the Lord. Marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and to walk faithfully within it, to keep yourself pure and true within that bond, is to honor the Lord who ordained it. Do not break that vow, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Go on serving God year after year, though you are unknown and misrepresented, feeling it sufficient that you have honored your Redeemer.
And now hear the word of the Lord to your soul, My soul, wait thou only upon God. Calvin renders it, be thou silent before God. Rest calm and undisturbed. They that wait on the Lord shall not want any good thing. Your faith must hang on nothing but the promise of God, and have no other support but that. Though you should tread upon what seems like hell itself at the next step, yet if God bids you tread there it shall be heaven to you if your eye is fixed on Him.
Therefore wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Waiting upon God sustains courage and renews strength, until you mount up with eagle's wings. He will strengthen your heart by the mysterious power of His Spirit coming into your soul when you are out of order and out of heart. This waiting is not in vain, for there is a final success to all this waiting when it turns to a glorious transaction of grace upon the heart, and the time of love has come.
We will pray for you before the throne of grace.
O Lord God of our salvation, in whom alone is our hope, look upon this wounded and waiting heart. Thou hast seen the abandonment and heard the lies, and Thou knowest the darkness. Grant to this soul to wait only upon Thee, to be silent before Thee, and to find Thee waiting to be gracious. Give courage and strength of heart, lift up the head that is bowed down, and keep these feet in the way of Thy covenant. Wash and make whiter than snow through the blood of Jesus Christ, in whom alone is salvation. Preserve this marriage according to Thy perfect will, turn sorrow into joy, and make faithfulness to Thy statutes the comfort of this life. Strengthen to endure, and in Thine own time bring light out of darkness, for Jesus sake. Amen.
There is a waiting God and there must be a waiting people. The Lord waits that He may be gracious, His heart yearns toward His own, His oxen and His fatlings are killed and all things are ready, and He waits long in singular patience. While men may abandon and ghost and forget, He does not forget. As He saw Hagar in her distress and heard her cry, so He sees your tears and hears your crying out for help. It is true that God sees all, and that truth has a dark side to the wicked, but to His child it is comfort, for as He sees your ruin and your sadness, He has compassion upon you.
You desire to keep your vows and to honor your marriage, and this is right and good before the Lord. Marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and to walk faithfully within it, to keep yourself pure and true within that bond, is to honor the Lord who ordained it. Do not break that vow, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Go on serving God year after year, though you are unknown and misrepresented, feeling it sufficient that you have honored your Redeemer.
And now hear the word of the Lord to your soul, My soul, wait thou only upon God. Calvin renders it, be thou silent before God. Rest calm and undisturbed. They that wait on the Lord shall not want any good thing. Your faith must hang on nothing but the promise of God, and have no other support but that. Though you should tread upon what seems like hell itself at the next step, yet if God bids you tread there it shall be heaven to you if your eye is fixed on Him.
Therefore wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Waiting upon God sustains courage and renews strength, until you mount up with eagle's wings. He will strengthen your heart by the mysterious power of His Spirit coming into your soul when you are out of order and out of heart. This waiting is not in vain, for there is a final success to all this waiting when it turns to a glorious transaction of grace upon the heart, and the time of love has come.
We will pray for you before the throne of grace.
O Lord God of our salvation, in whom alone is our hope, look upon this wounded and waiting heart. Thou hast seen the abandonment and heard the lies, and Thou knowest the darkness. Grant to this soul to wait only upon Thee, to be silent before Thee, and to find Thee waiting to be gracious. Give courage and strength of heart, lift up the head that is bowed down, and keep these feet in the way of Thy covenant. Wash and make whiter than snow through the blood of Jesus Christ, in whom alone is salvation. Preserve this marriage according to Thy perfect will, turn sorrow into joy, and make faithfulness to Thy statutes the comfort of this life. Strengthen to endure, and in Thine own time bring light out of darkness, for Jesus sake. Amen.
