III. Now I finish by asking another question. Suppose this blank cheque to be given to us, HOW WILL IT BE USED?
Well, first, I should use it upon that thing about which I have been praying most. I will not say what it is. This woman had been praying most about her daughter, so, when the Savior said, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” she did not say a single word, but she just willed in her mind that the devil should be driven out of her daughter. Oh, that you might have faith enough to be able to will the right thing! If Christ leaves his own will in your hands, and feels safe in doing so, oh, will strongly! It is for God, you know, to give a fiat; but Christ here gives a fiat to the woman. As I read the text, he says to her, “Be it unto thee,”-”So let it be.” “Be it so,” says he, “as thou wilt.” Behold, the fiat of God goes forth to thee, believer, to let it be even as thou dost will it to be. Now, can you not will for the child for whom you have been praying? Do you not will for the congregation that lies on your heart? Do you not will for that friend with whom you have been speaking in order to try to bring him to Christ? Will for the distinct object for which you have been praying; and then, may the will of the Lord be done, and may your will also be done because it is an echo of the will of the Lord!
Next, I think that, if we had this said to each one of us; “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” we should first will our own salvation. Pray, as we sang just now,—
“With my burden I begin Lord,
Remove this load of sin;
Let thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Let my conscience free from guilt.
“Lord! I come to thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There thy blood-bought right maintain,
And without a rival reign.”
Let each one of us pray, “Lord, save me! Lord, make sure work of it; save me from sin, save me from self, save me from everything that dishonors thee.” I was talking, the other day, with a man who was saying that he attended a ministry where he heard very little about holy living. He thought that he was a believer, though he was living in sin, and continued to live in sin. He knows now that he was no believer, or else he could not have lived in sin as he did; and now he prays to God not for salvation while he is living in sin, but for salvation from sin. So, we will first ask of God our own full salvation, and we know that his answer will be, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
Have we not all a prayer also for our children, or our friends, or those who lie near to our hearts? Then let us pray on, with great faith, till we hear Christ say, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt;” and then let us go home, and expect to see the work of grace begun in our children. Watch for it, O parent; and carefully nurture it as soon as you see the first beginnings of it! About this matter also Jesus says, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
I think that, if I were asked to pray now for something very special, and that I might have whatever I asked, my prayer would be, “Lord, make me grow in grace. Give me more faith. If I have great faith, give me more. If I have much love to thee, give me more love to thee. If I know my Lord, I pray that I may know more of him, and know him to a fuller and intenser degree.” My prayer shall be,—
“Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee.”
Let that be the prayer of each one of you to whom it is left to fill up this blank cheque.
Then there is another prayer that I am sure I should remember, if nobody else here did, and that would be concerning Christ’s kingdom. If it is to be unto me as I will, then I will it that God’s truth should be preached everywhere, and that false doctrines should be made to fly like chaff before the wind. If our prayer be heard, and we are permitted to have what we will, our will is that God may send us Luthers and Calvins, and brave men like John Knox back again, men with bones in their backs, and fire on their lips, with hearts that burn and words that glow with holy fervor; we want them so badly now. The Lord have mercy upon the Free Church of Scotland, and give her back faithful covenanting men and women! The Lord have mercy upon our own poor denomination, and give us those who love the truth of God, and dare to stand up for it come what may! Oh, for such a prayer as that! Lord, revive thy Church! Lord, lift up a banner because of the truth! Lord, put thine adversaries to the rout!
“Fight for thyself, O Jesus, fight,
The travail of thy soul regain!”
Oh, to hear in our hearts this gracious word from the King himself, as we plead with him concerning his kingdom, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
By-and-by, you and I shall lie sick and ill, and they will say, “His days are numbered:” Then, if the Lord shall visit us in answer to our prayers, and whisper to us, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” oh then, the promise will road in a very different sense from what I can read it now! Then will the poor tent begin to be taken down; well, it never was worth much. Fearfully and wonderfully made is this mortal frame, but it is capable of bringing us great pain and much sorrow, and also of deadening our devotion, and hampering us in our work for God. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” “Ah, well!” says the Lord, “you shall be rid of your flesh one day. It shall be unto thee even as thou wilt.” You have sung, sometimes,—
“Father, I long, I faint to see
The place of thine abode;
I’d leave thine earthly courts, and flee
Up to thy seat, my God!”
“Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” A dear sister, who was buried to-day, said when they told her that she could not live another day, “Does it not seem wonderful? Is it not a grand thing to know that I am going to see the Lord Jesus Christ to-day?” And she lay on her bed saying this to all who came, “It seems too good to be true, that I should be so near that for which I have longed those many years; I am going to-day to see the King in his beauty.”
Ah, thank God, we too shall come to that last day of our earthly life! Unless the Lord descend quickly, we too shall come to our dying bed, and then we shall hear our Savior say, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” and oh! we shall will to see his face, and to be for ever with the Lord, and to praise him with infinite rapture for ever and ever. Blessed be his name, we have faith to believe that it will be even so. Then we will tell him what we cannot tell him now, how much we love him, how deeply we feel our indebtedness to him, and we will give all the glory of our salvation to his holy name for ever and ever. God grant that this may be the happy lot of every one of us, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
