The petition you bring concerns wages and contracts, matters of daily bread and just dealing between man and man. It is well that you bring such things before the throne of grace, for our God cares for the poor and the oppressed. Yet when I hear the plea that a company might pay fairly, I hear also an echo of that cruel bondage under which the children of Israel groaned, so that for anguish of spirit they could not listen even to good tidings. The soul worn down by scant wages and long hours is often tempted to think the gospel cannot be for her.
But let us look higher. The true security of a man is not in a contract renegotiated, nor in a fair wage from an earthly master, but in Him who has transferred all our concerns to the King eternal. If Jesus could fail us, we might indeed wear sackcloth forever; but He is the best of all Watchmen, who keeps the vineyard night and day. He waters it every moment. Therefore, in praying for these guards, pray first that they would know this assured security in Christ, where the soul enjoys the sleep of the Beloved, calmly resting, for all is well.
We must also level a warning at the heart of covetousness, which is a vile weed that can strangle a fair flower like justice. A covetous spirit can enter a boardroom as easily as it can live in a hovel. A company may be like Haman, who, though all bowed before him, was yet miserable because one poor man sat at the gate. Unless they can call all things theirs, they are as wretched as he. So let your prayer be seasoned with the apostolic warning: let your conversation be without covetousness. Pray that the hearts of those who hold the purse strings might be turned from this sin, that they would not rest in a fancied, carnal security that says, “We dwell carelessly, after the manner of the Sidonians,” while neglecting the weightier matter of the laborer’s hire. For those who set no watch against greed, bearing no shield, their fancied security is ruinous to the last degree.
Remember, the righteous keep God’s way, come fair, come foul. Job did not forsake his path when the sleet beat in his face. So we are not to seek justice only when it is convenient or when the economic season is fair. And what is a fair-weather promise from man? It is but the morning cloud and the early dew that passes away. Man’s fair promise is a mist that mocks the farmer’s hope. We dare not trust in the flimsy resolutions of a board, for hopes are flimsily formed and confidences ill-founded. Rather, we do what we can, then we cast our burden upon the Lord, who comes best when we are most trembling, for when the creature is lowest, then is the Creator highest and Christ is more fair and lovely in our eyes.
In your asking for a miracle, you do well. We serve a God who turns the heart of the king whithersoever He will. The mud that men cast upon the garments of Christ’s poor shall one day fall off, leaving them whiter than before. The clouds that obscure the light of justice shall be blown away. Snap your finger in the face of despair and tell men you do not care to please the covetous heart; your Master is in heaven, and Him will you please, come fair, come foul. Plead the blood of the covenant and remember, the Lord’s presence is to His people as the latter rain; what a shower of grace He gives. It may be that the July you have marked shall see the harvest of this very prayer, when the fair weather of His mercy ripens the seed you have sown with tears.