That your documents lie unheeded, that your body aches with pain, that your heart is heavy with concern for your husband and your son, this is the very soil in which faith must strike its roots deeper still. You have cried unto Jesus, and He has heard; yet the answer tarries. Is this not often the case with the Lord’s dearest children? The delay is not denial, but a Fatherly discipline, a weaning from all earthly props, that you might learn to trust Him in the dark. He healed them that had need of healing, not those who fancied themselves whole, but those whose need was desperate and real. You are such a one, and therefore you are the very soul Christ came to succour.
I perceive in your trouble a chastening love. Perhaps there is some sin to be searched out, some wrong motive in the prayer itself, was it all for God’s glory, or mingled with earthly desires? Even our holiest pleadings need washing in the blood of the Lamb. Yet be not swallowed up with over-much sorrow; consider Him who, upon the cross, prayed for sinners who knew not what they did. Before you could frame a syllable, Jesus was interceding for you. He pleads His Sonship: “Father, forgive them.” And if He intercedes, shall the Father turn away? The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Though men ignore your papers, though the doctors’ letters seem cast to the winds, there is One who will bring forth your righteousness as the light.
In this heaviness, I would have you cling to this: your need is your passport to mercy. You cannot heal your own legs, nor can you change the hearts of officials or your son; but Christ can, and He delights to take up the cause of those who have no other helper. Has He not said, “Ask, and it shall be given you”? Yet He reserves the right to answer in a way you never looked for, Paul went to Rome in chains, but he went. So your relief may come through a door you have not yet seen. Let your prayer be, “Lord, keep me from murmuring; let me rather do and die, if Thou wilt, than sin against Thee by unbelief.”
As for your husband and son, commend them to Him who engaged you for life, yea, for eternity. The Master’s business is not ours to reason why, but to serve. Keep on praying for them, not to be seen of men, but unto the Lord. And in your own pain, remember that the Son of God learned obedience by the things He suffered, and He is become the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. Your suffering is not without purpose; it drives you to Him who alone can give you grace for every hour.
Now lift your head. The world may shut its doors, but there is room for you in the heart of Jesus. He has made haste to receive publicans and sinners; He will not cast out a poor, needy soul that comes to Him. I beseech you, look not to the indifference of men, but to the wounded hands that yet plead for you before the throne. May the Lord suddenly appear for your deliverance, giving you a token for good, that you may declare with thanksgiving, “I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice.” Trust Him, wait upon Him, and though the morning be dark, the day shall dawn.
