When the heart cries out for friends upon the road, it pleads not to a deaf heaven. The same Lord who holds the waters in the hollow of His hand, who covers His own under the shadow of His wings, has already numbered the miles and the moments of this journey. It is He who keeps the feet of His saints, and as truly the wheels of the chariot are in His keeping. Are we not taught that in all our ways we are to acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our paths? The path may wind through peril, yet no peril can touch the child of God unless the Father permits it. Think how He has hidden the future from us that we might lean more entirely upon Him, step by step. In this very hour, as you commit your friends to the Lord, you do but echo the cry of the prophet: “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!” But be assured, He who came down to the manger, to the garden, to the cross, is nearer still. He is not far from any of us, and His Spirit can be the true Driver, the unseen Guardian who is wise above all map, who knows the end from the beginning.
I do not doubt that many a servant of God has been cheered in the carriage by such a thought as this: “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust.” The storm may rage, the wheels may slide, but the Eternal God is withstanding everything that opposes itself, and that means even the mechanical failure, the reckless stranger, the sudden hazard. There is no power or permanence in any danger independent of God. He sets at nought the might of the tempest; He holds the bit in the mouth of the whirlwind. Therefore, let your prayer ascend with the confidence that while you are asking, He is already answering. Abraham waited long by the sacrifice, driving away the vultures that would defile it; but we are not called to a wearisome watching, for Christ our Sacrifice has already made the way open. We may drive away the carrion fears that buzz about our hearts, the dread of accident, the apprehension of sorrow, and rest in the finished work and the present care of our Lord.
Remember also that there is a friendship with Christ which makes every command light, and one command is this: to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us. He says to us, “You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you”, and He commands us to trust, to pray without ceasing, and to believe that He has heard our petition. The journey that seems so fraught with anxiety is but a stitch in the grand tapestry of providence. He who knows the sparrow’s fall will not neglect the traveler for whom the blood of the covenant was shed. So let your heart be still. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, and He will keep the friends whom you have commended to His love. The end of the matter is this: we do not know what a day may bring forth, but we do know who brings forth the day. Therefore, in the name of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, I say to you and to those for whom you pray: Go in peace, for the Lord will be your confidence, and He will keep your foot from being moved.