God Never Disappoints Us
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We cannot trust ourselves too little—and we cannot trust God too much. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean upon your own understanding." Somewhere in the future there hangs before us—a golden ideal of a perfect life—but as we move on, the dream of complete victory over sin moves on also before us. It is like the child running over the hill to catch the rainbow; when he gets over the hill, the rainbow is as far off as ever. If our expectation of spiritual growth and of conquest of temptation, rests on our own resolutions and on our own strength, then our day-dreams are continually doomed to disappointment.
"O my soul, wait only upon God; for my expectation is from him." God never disappoints us. When we study the Almighty in the book of nature, or the book of revelation, we find our utmost expectation overtopped by the wonderful reality. When we obey God we find the rich reward sooner or later—just as surely as day follows the sunrise. When we trust God—he never fails us. When we pray to him aright, with faith, with submissiveness, with perseverance, and with honest desire to glorify him—he answers us. I don't believe our Heavenly Father ever turned a deaf ear to an honest prayer offered in the right spirit. He is a Sovereign, and does his own wise will; and if it pleases him to keep us waiting for the answer, then we must understand that delays are not always denials.
If we had only to demand from God, just what we desire, and in the way and the time which suits our pleasure, then we would be snatching God's scepter and trying to rule the Ruler of the universe. Did you ever know a child who ruled its parents—without ruining itself? And if it spoils our children to have their own way—I am sure that it would be for our ruin if we could bend God to all our wishes. If this is our "expectation" from God, then the sooner we abandon it the better!
God keeps all his promises—but he has never promised to let you and I hold the reins. He answers prayer—but in the way and at the time that his infinite wisdom determines. Some prayers are not answered at once; more than one faithful mother has gone to her grave before the child for whose conversion she prayed, has given his heart to Jesus. Some prayers are answered in a way so unexpected, that the answer is not recognized; only eternity will "make it plain." For many petitions are answered according to theintention and not according to the strict letter of the request; the blessing granted has been something different from what the believer expected.
Jacob, when he blessed the sons of Joseph, laid his right hand on the son who stood at his left side. So God sometimes takes off his hand of blessing from the thing we prayed for—and lays it on another which is more for our good and his own glory. He often surprises his people with unexpected blessings—and heaven will have abundance of such surprises.
Let us rejoice to remember that our Savior is God, and in him dwells all fullness. "Of his fullness, have we all received," said the Beloved Disciple, and John was not disappointed. Neither was Paul when he found himself "filled with might in the inner man." There is a fullness of grace and love and power and peace and comfort that his redeemed children have never been able toexplore, much less to exhaust! I left some little brooks, nearly run dry, the other day, up in the mountains—but I found yonder harbor, fed from the fathomless Atlantic, as full as ever. "Oh, how shallow a soul I have—to take in Christ's love," said the holy Rutherford; "I have spilled more of his grace—than I have brought with me. How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand; as little am I able to take away of my great Sea, my boundless and running over Christ Jesus!"
When a friend of mine, long years ago, urged John Jacob Astor to donate for a certain object, and told him that his son had subscribed, the old German millionaire replied very dryly, "He can do it; he has got a rich father." Brother Christian, you and I have got a rich Father! We are heirs to a great inheritance, and possessors of exceeding precious promises! Let us ask for great things! God must take it ill, that we covet so little of the best things and pray with such scrimped and scanty faith. "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." We can easily over-expect from our fellow-creatures, but we cannot over-expect God. "The Lord takes pleasure in those who hope in his mercy."
I have read many a biography which ended in bright hopes quenched in blackness of darkness—but I never have read, and never have I heard of the experience, of any man who confessed that he was disappointed in his Lord and Savior. "My soul, wait only upon God—for my expectation is from him." There can be no divided responsibility; it is God—or nobody. As the old Puritan writer Trapp reminds us, "They trust not God at all—who trust him not entirely; he who stands with one foot on a rock and another foot on a quicksand, will sink as surely as he who has both feet on a quicksand."
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