I hear your cry, and I am moved. The very anxiety you feel, that multiplicity of difficulties, that pressure of doubt, these are not signs that God has forgotten you. Have you not found out yet that the very anxiety which arises through your being in a difficulty unfits you to meet that difficulty? The mind is the main thing, it will bring you daylight or midnight, wealth or poverty, peace or war. Cast your burdens upon the Lord, for He commands it: “Fear not; thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord.” Why should you fear? Fear is weakening; it dishonors God. Doubt the Eternal, distrust the Omnipotent? O traitorous fear! Thinkest thou that the arm which piled the heavens shall ever be palsied?
You plead for His shield, and well you may. “In the shadow of Your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities pass.” Yet take heed: the way of salvation is not, “Pray, and be saved,” but, “Believe, and be saved.” You have no right to trust in the goodness of God out of Christ. Sinner, you say? Even the saint must come always by the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within, peace gleaming with a heavenly light even in the midnight of this world of care. If you would know perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him, then trust Him now. Only trust Him! If you say, “Lord, I cannot trust You unless I feel this or that,” you make a god out of your feelings. Trust Jesus as you sink, and you shall swim. Trust Him as you feel yourself dying and you shall live.
I can speak with sympathy, for I have known the darkness. But He commands, “Fear not.” It is not the preacher who cries it; it is Jesus Himself who whispers, “Fear not.” Even though your prayers seem unanswered, in the teeth of every hard thought, trust Christ with your soul. If you do that, you are saved then and there. He will give you supplies of daily food, and all you need beside, spiritual food too. Go now, with all the holy boldness of a sinner saved by grace, and tell your troubled soul that you will approach the gracious King. You will do as He bids you, you will trust in His dear Son, and you shall be saved. Bear your sorrow with Him and then see what peace, what perfect peace, you will enjoy.
Mercy is all that’s written there, in the breast of the Saviour. Hither, when Hell assails, I flee. Away, sad doubt, and anxious fear! He tells you, “Fear not: I have redeemed you.” Trust Him with one soul? That is nothing, you could trust Him with a million souls if you had them, for He is able to save to the uttermost all who trust Him. Let His peace rule in your heart, a peace from lips that cannot lie, through the blood which has made a full atonement. Earth’s struggles soon shall cease, and Jesus calls us to Heaven’s perfect peace.