The Lord has heard your earnest cry, and He who commanded us to ask, seek, and knock will not turn a deaf ear to those who come in the name of His dear Son. You have done well to make your request known unto God, for prayer is an institution of the Most High, and He does not mock His children by ordaining an exercise that proves ineffectual. If He inclines us to pray, it is because there is a corresponding blessing already prepared; therefore, cast not away your confidence, but look for the answer with expectation.
Yet remember, the Lord deals well with His servants according to His Word, and often the delay that seems so trying is but a lesson in good judgment and knowledge, teaching us that we have believed His commandments. Be not as Zacharias, who, though a priest well instructed in the oracles of God, yet said, “Whereby shall I know this?” when the angel brought tidings of answered prayer. His unbelief met with a stern rebuke, and he was struck dumb for a season. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it doubt; for the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, though the hours seem long and the adversary seems entrenched. The very earnestness of your petition shows that the Spirit is at work within you, and He that spared not His own Son will surely, with Him, freely give you all things needful, even a just and swift resolution.
Consider also that the Lord is a God of justice, and He will by no means clear the guilty. The axe is indeed laid at the root of the barren tree, and though for a time the Intercessor may plead, “Spare it yet another year,” the day of cutting down must come if there be no fruit. Commit your cause to Him that judges righteously, who sees every secret thing and will bring every work into judgment. In the meantime, watch and pray, lest you fall into mistrust; for the Judge of all the earth stands at the door, and His long-suffering is your opportunity to prove your faith by patience. Go your way, therefore, quietly resting in the Lord, who has given you His Word that whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.