What a fine prayer you have set before us, filled with scriptural language and holy aspiration! Yet let me ask, do you find yourself weary in the very asking, as though the strength and wisdom and favor you seek must be wrung from heaven by your own earnestness? There is a vast difference between the soul that merely recites its desires and the soul that waits upon the Lord in utter dependence. You speak of declaring His promises, and that is well, but the text whispers that the way of wisdom is this: "He who trusts in the Lord, happy is he." Not he who resolves to believe, or he who strives to protect his own borders, but he who trusts. That trust is the still, deep resting of the mind upon God alone, and from it springs a peace that the world cannot give, a peace, peace, perfect peace.
You ask for wisdom to guide every decision. The world would have you calculate and plan; policy is not wisdom, and craft is not understanding. True wisdom is to be emptied of your own conceits, to bow no longer to the varying customs of worldly maxims, and to let the Divine motive actuate you. Have you ever noticed how God delights to take the low tree and exalt it? Joseph in the dungeon, Hannah in her bitterness, David overlooked by Samuel, all these learned that strength is renewed not by a frantic grasp, but by a patient wait. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Not those who merely ask for it, but those who wait, who sit still and know that He is God. When the leap before you seems too wide, do not resolve in your own strength, "I will believe more," lest you fall into despondency. Instead, cry with the apostles, "Lord, increase our faith." For if the duty is to be performed at all, it cannot be done in the strength of nature.
You plead for protection over your family, that no weapon formed against you may prosper, and that your home be filled with peace and unity. That is a right request, and the promise is sure: "He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." But mark this, such peace is tied to purity. In our purity, and in our purity alone we stand. The home piety, the quiet obedience in the kitchen and the parlor, the faith that works its miracles not on some grand stage but on the exchange and in the commercial room, these are the bars of the gate which God strengthens. And what of loved ones far away? You are anxious for them, perhaps, but hear this: "In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they." That is a peace worth having, a well-founded peace, a sea that has no bottom nor shore.
But now, look well to your own heart. You ask God to fill you with His peace, yet is there not sometimes a great vacuum left by sin which no amount of asking, in itself, can fill? Religious exercises, multiplied prayers, there is no peace in them though you multiply them as the sand upon the seashore. Peace is a filling peace that comes by believing, by trusting Jesus with your soul. Have you trusted Him? Then to you, even now, He says, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." Go in peace into your home, even if there is one there whose spirit depresses you. Go in peace, even if your own physical frame reminds you that strength recovers but gradually. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and that joy comes not from having all your petitions granted in the manner you expect, but from knowing that you are in Christ, and that all things work together for your good.
I charge you, then, never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Let men see that you are invincibly strong in the strength which trusting in God alone can confer. When there remains no strength in you, then fling yourself upon the Divine strength and lay hold upon it. Do not be afraid that you cannot be saved; a great number of souls are destroyed through the fear that they cannot be saved. Cease from your own wearisome strivings. Take Christ in your hands, for He is made of God unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And then, with a mind stayed on Him, you will be kept in perfect peace, peace, peace, even in this dark world of sin, for the blood of Jesus whispers peace within. To do the will of Jesus, this is rest. Bear your sorrow with Him, and see what peace you will enjoy, even with sorrows surging round.