Two years is a long time to carry so heavy a load, and you have felt the weight of it in your body, in your home, and in the hidden places of your heart where fear whispers that some dark purpose is at work against you. You look at the string of sorrows, the relentless medical troubles, the sense that an unseen malice dogs your steps, and your soul cries out, Has God forgotten to be gracious? That is not a small question, and I would not brush it aside as though it were an unworthy thing to ask. The saints in Scripture asked it in the night watches, and the Lord did not cast them off for it. He listened, and He drew near.
So let me say this plainly, as one who has learned it in the deep waters: you are not cast away. The very fact that you cry out to God in Jesus’ name is proof that the key has turned in the lock. You remember old Giant Despair’s castle, and how the pilgrims thought they would perish there, until Christian remembered he had a key called Promise in his bosom. The lock went hard, desperately hard, but it turned. And the giant’s dungeon could not hold them. Your afflictions may be very great, and the adversary may roar, but you are not in his power. Christ has delivered you from the dominion of darkness already, and translated you into His kingdom. You may be sorely pressed, but you are not a prisoner. You are a child who is being led by a sometimes-frowning providence through a wilderness, but you are not a slave under Pharaoh’s lash. The enemy may shoot his arrows, and there is no arrow more venomous than the one that whispers, God has abandoned you, but that arrow is a lie. It is forged in hell, not in heaven. Your Lord has promised never to leave you nor forsake you, and His promises are not broken by long sieges or bitter nights.
I know that when troubles multiply and medical reports bring no good news, and you feel a shadow hanging over your household, the heart can sink very low. You look for some sign that God is still near, and instead you seem to meet only silence. But dear heart, the Lord often puts His hand over your own when you are too weak to draw the bow yourself. The deliverance is His, but He uses means, feeble means, trembling means, so that the excellency of the power may be seen to be of Him and not of us. Your prayer itself is one of those arrows. You may think it a poor, blunt thing, but the Lord’s hands are upon yours, and He will direct it where He wills. Do not despise the day of small things, nor the weak cry of a burdened soul. That cry goes straight to the Father’s ear.
There sits upon the throne of the universe One who has made it His very rule to pull down everything that lifts itself up against Him and against His people. All that vaunts itself, every dark spiritual power, every proud disease, every hidden scheme of malice, is marked for destruction. But you who are lowly and broken and trusting in Christ, He will lift up. The way may be uphill and downhill, winding through the valley of the shadow, but He will bring you forth. And when He does, you will look back and see that you did not come out of this Egypt empty. He brings His people forth with silver and gold, not the coin of this world, perhaps, but with tried faith, with deeper knowledge of His faithfulness, with a tenderness that can comfort others with the comfort you have received.
Do not measure His love by the length of the trial. A love-letter sometimes comes in a black-edged envelope, but the message inside is all the more precious. Jesus Christ knows the weight of a sorrowful spirit; He was acquainted with grief. And He who bore our sins in His own body on the tree will not stand aloof from you now. He intercedes for you with that voice which the Father always hears, and He sends His Spirit to be your Comforter even when your own feelings give no comfort at all.
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Lord, You see this dear one and the household that has been so long under the cloud. You have counted every sleepless night, every painful treatment, every hidden tear. In the mighty name of Jesus, I ask You to shine into the darkness that has gathered so thickly. Rebuke the accuser, silence the lying whisper that says You have forsaken them, and give them to know that no weapon formed against them shall prosper, for they are hidden in Christ. Stretch out Your hand to heal, and if it pleases You to use means, guide the physicians and bring swift recovery. If the deliverance tarries, give them such daily manna of grace that their spirits do not faint. Let them feel the everlasting arms beneath them even when the way is steep and the night is dark. Bring them forth into a broad place, and until that day, keep them in perfect peace because their mind is stayed on You. Amen.
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. 
