Selected from: On the Incarnation of the Eternal Word (London, 1849).
We may often pray for things, the possession of which would prove really hurtful to us, and the denial of which things, therefore, is the most gracious answer to our prayer. God alone can tell what is really good for us, and graciously reserves to himself the prerogative of determining whether the petitions which we offer be fit to be granted. “Me have ye bereaved of my children,” said the mourning patriarch; “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.” Nay, Jacob! but these are the steps whereby God is providing a place, where thou and thine may be satisfied in the days of famine.
How often does the wayward child struggle and cry, while the tenderest hand is performing offices essentially necessary for its health and comfort! And how often are we, in the hands of God, very wayward children, fretting and murmuring at that which is necessary for our spiritual health and comfort! God may therefore often deny our petitions, because he sees that to grant them would be detrimental to us. But in this case there is no reason to doubt, that he will always give us a blessing more appropriate to our situation, and of greater value than that which he has refused.
In this case, then, though our petition be denied, yet the prayer of faith is not in vain. A beloved child may ask an indulgent father for something which the father sees would be hurtful. This therefore he refuses; and the child, who knows both that his father is wiser than he, and knows much better what is good for him, and also that he is so good that he will refuse him nothing that is really good for him, will rest perfectly satisfied with the decision.
