The enemy rushes his dark design against the sons of promise, yet we recall that the pathway of divine grace no vulture’s eye hath seen, nor the lion’s whelp trodden. Count it certain that God will bring home all His lost children, though He deal strangely with them for a season. A custody order wrenched from far bears the mark of that old serpent’s malice, but the Lord hath declared He will dry up the green tree. Every plot that springs from the flesh, every scheme not rooted in His will, carries its death warrant already signed in heaven. Let us plead that the truth which makes free shall cast down every lying imagination before the courts. The Judge of all the earth must do right; He can unmask craft and make the wisdom of the worldly to be folly.
Those two boys, now learning of Jesus in a place of safety, are the lambs the wolf desires to scatter. Yet the Shepherd’s interpositions are frequent. How strikingly hath God delivered many of us from floods too deep for our own strength! That sister fled as one escaping from the snare of the fowler, and the snare is broken, for it is not God’s will that the prey be torn from the hand of His gentle grace. Her escape was no accident but a divine pulling out of many waters. Now the roaring waves threaten again, but the Lord on high is mightier. He can dissolve the difficulty that looks like a mountain. He can sway the hearts of judges as rivers of water. Plead with Him to do so, for the presence of God dissolves difficulties and makes a way where no vulture’s eye can trace a path.
Think not that this battle belongs only to the strong or the learned. A grain of divine grace outweighs a ton of worldly knowledge. The Lord who chose David the shepherd boy, though his brethren held him in small esteem, delights to use the weak and trembling to confound the mighty. This sister, a refuge from violence, finds herself summoned again to the field, but she goeth not a warfare at her own charges. The soldier of the cross draws from the divine paymaster. Let her trust wholly in the blessed God, not in the arm of flesh nor in legal cunning, for policy is not wisdom and craft is not understanding. The truly wise know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning and end of their confidence.
Expect, then, a divine surprise. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. The Lord may permit this trial that her faith might be found unto praise and honor, and that the boys might see a mother clinging to the unseen arm. How often the bitter Marah becomes sweet when the tree of the cross is cast into it! This struggle is the eagle stirring her nest, training the eaglets to fly by tearing away the downy comforts, that they might learn to soar in the upper air of divine dependence. Perhaps the children are still in some captivity of fear, and this very battle is the means by which the heavenly Father will ransom them fully. Fly upon the spoiler in prayer, for one of the readiest ways to arise from agony is holy activity.
Let this, then, be your wrestling at the throne: that God, who makes the difference, will block every plan not according to His will, and that the divine Spirit will display His power over the most unlikely persons to the glory of His grace. He can save the most obstinate and bring opposers to the feet of Jesus. He can make the judge despise the bribe of a lie and love the beauty of truth. Rejoice, though now you see the sword drawn, for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will lift up the poor from the dunghill while He casteth down the mighty from their seats of pomp. The gentleness of God, which made David great, will enfold those two boys, and the Lord alone will lead them, even if He must sweep away the foes like the blast of His nostrils.