What shall I do then? Go to God. “In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” Then, in the midst of all the care, you can give thanks. And we see the exceeding grace of God in this. It is not that you are to wait till you find out if what you want is the will of God. No. “Let your requests be made known.” Have you a burden on your heart? At once go with your request to God: it is not said that you will get it. Paul, when he prayed, had for answer, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
His “peace will keep your hearts and minds” not, you will keep His peace. Is He ever troubled by the little things that trouble us? Do they shake His throne? He thinks of us, we know, but He is not troubled; and the peace that is in God's heart is to keep ours. I go and carry it all to Him, and I find Him all quiet about it. It is all settled. He knows quite well what He is going to do. I have laid the burden on the throne that never shakes, with the perfect certainty that God takes an interest in me; and the peace He is in keeps my heart; and I can thank Him even before the trouble has passed. I can say, Thank God, He takes an interest in me. It is a blessed thing that I can have His peace, and thus go and make my request—perhaps a very foolish one—and, instead of brooding over trials, that I can be with God about them.
Is it not sweet to see that, while He carries us up to heaven, He comes down and occupies Himself with everything of ours here? While our affections are occupied with heavenly things, we can trust God for earthly things. He condescends to everything. As Paul says, “without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us.” It was worth being cast down to get that kind of comfort. Is He a God afar off, and not a God nigh at hand? He does not give us to see before us, for then the heart would not be exercised; but, though we see not Him, He sees us, and is at hand to give us all that kind of comfort in the trouble. J. N. D.