How tender a request, and how naturally the heart clings to those we call beloved. You ask prayer for the health, safety, happiness, and prosperity of one dear to you, and I would not be swift to silence such a cry. Yet, come with me a moment to the sacred desk of truth, for there is a Beloved who is more than all earthly beloveds put together. Our Lord Jesus Christ is “the Beloved” of the Father, and in Him all that is truly good is secured for those who are His. If this precious soul be in Christ, then indeed she is “accepted in the Beloved,” and no real harm can befall her. But we must learn to ask for those things which the Beloved Himself would give, and in the way He gives them.
You speak of health and safety. These are mercies, but God giveth His beloved sleep, sometimes a sleep of security, sometimes the deeper sleep of the body, and at times a sleep from earthly cares that can only be learned in the school of affliction. “Beloved, and yet afflicted”, this was true of Lazarus, and it is true of many a saint. Long-continued health and unbroken ease are not always for the soul’s prosperity. When the sea is smooth, the ship makes poor sailing. Do not, then, be amazed if your beloved should know sickness or trial; it may be the chisel in the hand of the great Sculptor, making her meet for glory. I have seen the ungodly full of vigour while the Lord’s loved one lies pale on a sickbed, yet the latter is in better case, for the Lord makes her happy in pain and joyful at the gates of the grave.
Happiness, ah, you long for her to be happy. So do I. But remember the lesson of chastened happiness: there is a wealth that has sorrow necessarily connected with it. The Lord often gives prosperity, yet He prevents the pride and presumption that are too apt to grow out of it. If He gives her days of sunshine, pray that she may not forget the shade of the cross. True happiness springs not from outward circumstances but from being “greatly beloved” of God, as Daniel was. Tell her, then, that if she be in Christ, she is precious in the Father’s sight, honourable as a memorial of the Saviour’s condescension, and beloved with an everlasting love. That love can hush every fear: “Hush, my Babe,” says the mother, and the sweetest hush is the mention of her own love. So, dear child of God, be still, be calm! You are beloved of Heaven.
As for prosperity, it is a dangerous guest. It is very hard to bear. When God blesses with increase, the soul is apt to grow fat and kick. So I pray not simply that He would prosper her, but that He would so order her lot that whether He gives or takes away, she may be kept near Himself. If she has but partly trusted and partly served, her happiness may well be shallow; but if she daily communes with her Lord, she shall have springs of joy that never dry.
Go, then, and lay this beloved one at the feet of the great Shepherd. Pray not merely for these four outward things, but pray that she may know Him who is the Altogether Lovely. If she can say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His,” then health, safety, happiness, and prosperity shall be given in their truest, deepest sense, or something far better shall be given instead. The Lord bless her, and you, and make you both to look for that day when the last prayer of the Bride shall be answered: “Come, my Beloved, make haste!” Until then, peace be unto you. Why are you fretting, worrying, tossed up and down? You are beloved, does not that give you peace?