My dear troubled heart, you have come to the right place with your burden, for you have brought your children and laid them at the feet of the Lord Jesus. There is no better thing you could do. When a mother kneels and pleads for her little ones, or for those who are now grown but still the children of her prayers, you lean into a love that is older than the hills and deeper than the sea.
You ask that your children live long and wealthy lives, and you add that they be healthy and contribute to society, and that your family might pay back the kindness of the Lord. I want to sit with you a moment and look at this request in the light of Christ, not to take anything away from it, but to show you that the Lord can give you something even richer than you have yet conceived.
The desire for your children's health is a noble prayer, and God loves to hear it. But let me remind you that the health God values most is the health of the whole person, body, soul, and spirit. A man may have a sound body and a sick soul. A woman may have every limb strong and yet be palsied within, unable to reach toward her Maker. When you pray for your children to be healthy, ask the Lord to give them that sacred sanity of nature in which all the powers of their being are rightly ordered, the body a servant, the soul a steward, and the spirit a priest before God. This is the health that makes Paradise, even in a poor cottage. This is the soundness that will keep them when every outward prop gives way.
As for long life, yes, pray for it. But do you know what makes a life truly long? It is not the number of winters that a man has seen, but the depth of the work that God has wrought in him. There are those who have lived but a handful of years and yet have filled them so full of love to Christ and service to His people that they have outlived the oldest sinner who ever crawled his weary way to the grave. And as for wealth, ah, here we must be very tender. You wish your children to be wealthy, and I do not doubt that you mean it for their good. But let us be sure we are asking for the wealth that does not rot. There is a treasure that moths and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal. If your children have that, then whether they ride in a carriage or walk on foot, they are rich beyond the counting of coins. I have seen a poor saint whose heart was full of praise and whose table was spread with contentment, and I thought to myself, There is a millionaire of the kingdom. And I have seen a rich man whose soul was shriveled and whose home was a warfare, and I thought, There is a pauper in a palace.
But here is the sweetest thing in all your prayer: you want your family to pay back the kindness of the Lord. I rejoice to hear it, for that is the very note of grace. Yet let me tell you a lovely secret: you cannot pay God back, and He does not wish you to try. What He wants from you is not repayment but gratitude, the sacrifice of praise. When a father gives his child a gift, he does not expect the child to work and earn its price. He wants the child to enjoy the gift and love the giver. So it is with our heavenly Father. The kindness He has shown your family is not a debt He is waiting for you to discharge. It is the overflow of His own great heart, and the only proper answer is a life of thankful love, a continual offering of praise.
Think of it this way. Your children are living testimonies. Every one of them is a love-letter from God, even if some of those letters come in envelopes edged with black. Has the Lord been good to them? Has He preserved them, fed them, put breath in their lungs and light in their eyes? Then let them be living thank-offerings. The health you desire for them can be spent in the service of Him who gave it. The wealth you ask for can be turned into hospitality for the poor, support for the ministry, and bread for the hungry. The long life you crave can be a long song of praise, a life-long occupation of glorifying God.
And do you know what will happen if they live this way? They will contribute to society indeed, not merely as good citizens, though that is well, but as priests of the Most High, scattering blessing wherever they go. A holy life is the truest benefaction to any nation. The man who fears God and walks in His ways is a pillar of the commonwealth, whether he sits in Parliament or sweeps a crossing.
Now, dear soul, do not let the care of your children weigh you down as though it all depended on you. You have prayed, and prayer is the lever that moves the hand that moves the world. The Lord who restored Simon Peter's mother-in-law from her fever is the same Lord who can keep your children in health of body and soul. The Christ who fed the multitudes with loaves and fishes is the same Christ who can supply all their need according to His riches in glory. Cast your care upon Him, for He cares for you, and for them.
When you look back upon your life, you will see bright spots where the presence of God flamed forth in your humblest circumstances. Trust Him to do the same for your children. He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to continue it in the generations after you. The covenant is not for you alone, but for your children, and for as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Now let us go together to the throne of grace, and there I will speak with you and for you before our great High Priest.
Lord Jesus, You who took little children into Your arms and blessed them, look now upon these beloved ones whom their mother has brought to You in faith. Grant them that perfect health of body, soul, and spirit which You alone can give. Give them length of days if it pleases You, but above all give them fullness of life in You. Bestow upon them such wealth as shall make them rich toward God, and use whatever outward substance You entrust to them as a means of blessing many. Let their whole household be holiness unto the Lord, and may they all sing for joy because You have done great things for them. And for this dear praying mother, grant her to see the answer of her prayers in the peace and godliness of her children, that her heart may be satisfied and her mouth filled with praise. In Your precious and prevailing name, Amen.