It is well that you bring this matter before the throne of grace, for only He who holds every heart in His hand can truly deliver. Yet let us be clear on our footing, when we come before God with such a burden, we do not climb up to the mercy seat by the ladder of our own supposed rights. You speak of justice, but O, beware of pleading your own cause on that ground. For if strict justice were measured out to any of us, we could not endure it. The law would try us, condemn us, and cast us aside forever. No, the cry that prevails is not “I am owed,” but “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” Your financial wound is real, yet there is a deeper debt every soul owes, and it is in confessing our own insolvency before the Lord that we find His ear bent low.
Consider the look by which Christ restored His fallen apostle, that dear Peter who fell so shamefully and yet was lifted up again. The Lord did not need to utter thunderbolts of accusation; a single glance, a divine hieroglyphic of unutterable meaning, sufficed to break his heart and bind it up again. That look of unchanging love is the hammer that can break any rock in pieces, soften any hardened heart, whether it be yours in its anxiety or your friend’s in his procrastination. The instrument may seem commonplace, a renewed promise, a partial payment at the end of the month, but the Divine Worker is behind it, and Christ gets all the glory for working through humble means. Plead for that look to fall upon the one who owes you, not as a demand, but as an appeal to immutable grace.
Yes, there is a proper place for hoping in divine interpositions. Not the kind that rend the mountains with visible fire, for such wonders would not profit a godless generation, but the quiet, wonder-filled deliverances from floods of trouble. How often has He drawn you out of many waters, preserved your life, and kept your feet from falling, though the swellings of Jordan seemed ready to overwhelm? His ways are not noisy, nor visible to any but the receiver, yet they are full of gentleness. When the Divine presence draws near, every mountain of difficulty dissolves like a glacier in the summer sun. Therefore, do not fix your eye upon the money or the month’s end as though your help lay there, but upon the presence of the Lord as the one hope of His people. He delights to display His power over the most unlikely persons, bringing opposers to His feet, and He can just as easily move upon this situation for His own glory.
And what if the answer tarries? Then know this: the trial itself has its purpose. Render calamity impossible, and there would be no mark of divine displeasure for revolt, no distinction between obedience and sin. Your present strain is a solemn reminder that we live in a groaning world, yet it is also a place where divine sovereignty may shine brightest. That God should adopt sinful men into His family, that He should care for your temporal needs while securing your eternal ones, this is a communion of gentleness that stoops to your low estate, just as He chose the despised shepherd boy David. Let this balm heal your wounded spirit: you are not forgotten.
For your part, take care that your own faith fail not. It is the root of all graces, and if it withers through bitterness or fear, joy and peace wither with it. Seek restoration not only of your funds but of any decay within your own soul. And as soon as you taste of this delivering mercy, look outward. The one who receives grace is thereby made a debtor to strengthen his brethren. Do not let this end with your own relief; let it become a part of the universal mutual pastorate of the Church, equipping you to comfort others with the comfort you have received.
Go now to God, not with a clenched fist asserting your rights, but with the empty hand of a suppliant, confessing that He would be utterly just even if no penny were ever repaid. Yet remember: the justice of God, once satisfied in Christ, is now the believer’s great argument for forgiveness and blessing. For a just God cannot break His promise, and He has promised to care for you. Trust Him for the moment-by-moment grace, and leave the outcome in His sovereign hand. In that quiet confidence, you will find strength enough for the day.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
