The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance is notched upon the bowstring of your prayer, and the very breath that fans your petition is the Spirit of Him who hears. When a mother’s cry rises for her son, it pierces the heavens swifter than any shaft loosed from an earthly archer. The powers of darkness may coil themselves about the young man, but what is their cord compared to the omnipotent hand that flung the stars abroad? He who gave Egypt and Ethiopia for His people, who gave heaven’s brightest jewel, His own dear Son, to redeem them from all iniquity, shall He not stretch forth His arm to pluck this child from the snare? The pit may gape, the shadows may deepen, but a ransom has been found. The clock of mercy struck in heaven the hour of deliverance when Christ drank the cup of wrath dry, and no accuser can out-argue that blood.
Yet mark this well: the deliverance for which you plead must sweep beyond the outward abuse. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness,” not merely from its threats, but from its tyranny over the heart. The gracious work of sanctification, like justification, is God’s gift alone. Do not stagger at this. Did He not bring Israel forth laden with silver and gold, so that not a hoof was left behind? Will He not do more than extract your son from the mire, will He not cleanse his feet and set him upon a rock? The evil one seeks to devour, but the Shepherd’s rod and staff are not idle. The rod chastens, yes, for “what son is he whom the father chastens not?” Yet the crook also rescues. The very terrors that fell upon Christ on Calvary, when He was made a curse for us though He knew no sin, have purchased a full emancipation, body, soul, and spirit.
Therefore, let your faith shoot the arrow. Strike the ground with the arrows of supplication, not just once, but repeatedly, until hope routs despair. You fear the deeds of darkness; but the Father sees what we cannot, and He has appointed the holy angels to keep charge over the beloved. When you say, “Expose the deeds of darkness,” you echo the eternal decree, for there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. The Dragon’s plots are transparent to the Omniscient Eye. And when you plead for a hedge of protection, remember that the thorn-hedge of affliction often proves the surest fence. The Lord chastens sorely, but He does not give us over to death. The boy may walk through the valley, but the rod and staff comfort him. I charge you, boast not in feelings of fear, but in the fact of the Ransom. “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
That this son shall live and not die, and declare the works of the Lord, is the believer’s song before the deliverance is seen. Declare it now. In the face of every threat, lift up the shield of gratitude. The people of God are to recount the righteous acts of the Lord, not merely after the victory, but in the thick of the battle. The memory of the Paschal Lamb, the blood upon the door, was celebrated in the very land of bondage. So you, even now, bless God for the deliverance that is on the wing. It is of Free Grace only. The child cannot rescue himself, you cannot purchase his freedom with tears, but God has found a way through the rending of the rocks and the opening of the tomb. Rest your soul upon Him. The hosts of Syria could not stand against the prophet’s arrow, and the hosts of hell cannot stand against the intercession of the risen Son. Your prayer is that arrow; the victory belongs to Jehovah.