The prayer you have offered touches upon a matter close to the heart of many a believer, yet it must be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. You ask for a woman to love and marry, and for miracles to bring this to pass. But what is the true miracle of love? It is that love of God which found the materials for our redemption and applied it when completed. Love regenerated us, love has supported us till this day, and will keep us to the end. That is the great motive power urging us onward. If you would know a miracle, look to the cross where Christ did not spare Himself but died for you, loving you better than He loved Himself.
You speak of practical ways and mutual interest, and you fear a woman giving up on you. But consider this: the Lord’s love has never changed toward His own. He could not love you more, He will not love you less. His love does not vary with our circumstances. Are you then to place your hope for fulfillment in a creature’s affection, which ebbs and flows, while the unchanging sea of divine love lies open before you? No relationship is precious compared with Him. I am not afraid that the marriage bond will lead you from holiness if you know how sweet and dear Jesus is. Yet if you seek first a helpmate without seeking first His kingdom and righteousness, you put the cart before the horse. The right order for a Christian is the order of advance, a holy dissatisfaction, a panting after something better in Christ Himself.
Your will is strong in this matter. You say, “Pray that God sends me a woman.” But what says the Scripture? “You know not what shall be on the morrow.” It is foolish for a man to feel he can do as he likes and that everything will fall out as he desires. God’s will is the great first cause in all things. Salvation itself is of God’s will, and we are not saved against our will, yet the will is not taken away; God does not convert the intelligent free-agent into a machine. So it is with every lesser mercy. You are not to be passive, but your first cry must be, “Lord, what is Your revealed will?” The highest wisdom is to know your God. If you thought God were good, you would love Him above all, and then these earthly longings would find their proper place.
Look at your life. You have mercies already, perhaps a praying family around you, health, a means to earn your bread. A praying wife is a priceless gift, but do you see God’s love in your present mercies? He is already displaying love, for love must manifest itself in action. The crowning proof of love is this: Christ laid down His life for you. Can you doubt the love of Him who died, the just for the unjust? Nobody could doubt that mother’s love who in the floods carried her children to safety at the cost of her own life. Even the devil’s advocate will not dispute this truth. Yet you question His care if He does not give you this one thing.
You ask for a miracle. Here is a miracle of love for you: God seeks that which was lost. He says, “I will seek,” and His seeking is not like ours which fails. If you are lost as to needing finding, you have a Father who yearns over you. But perhaps you are not lost, you are a child of God, yet fretting. A time of finding often comes when we cease our own striving. If you have no good thing to plead, so much the better. Come to Him for a broken heart, come to Him for contentment. His promise is, “I will bind up that which was broken.” Leave everything to Him, all the way from earth to heaven, and be content to live only a day at a time. If you must have a song, let it be, “For tomorrow and its need I do not pray, but keep me, guide me, hold me, Lord, just for today.”
As for the vengeance of love, when jealousy is stirred up, love makes a clean sweep of everything that comes in its way. God will have no rivals. The names of your Baalim, your idols of domestic comfort, your impatient demands, He will take out of your mouth. This is love too, for He will not cast off His people, but He will not manifest the tenderness of His love unless they walk carefully with Him. You must be brought to say, “My Man, to whom my soul is married once and for all, I must love You and serve You till my life’s last breath.” Then, may there arise the perfume of another love, born of the first, the love of your renewed heart towards your God. That is the spark of the eternal flame. If He then grants you an earthly union, it will be seasoned with grace and ordered by His command, who never makes mistakes. Until then, let your soul lie quiet in His will. He has prayed for you, and His love is enough.