SEEKING FAITH
“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
John 4:48-49
Notice in the royal official’s case that seeking faith did not simply make him earnest in prayer but made him persistent in prayer. He asked once, and the only answer he received was an apparent rebuff. He did not turn away in a sulk. No. “Sir,” he said, “come down.” I cannot tell you how he said it, but I have no doubt it was expressed in soul-moving terms, with tears starting from his eyes and hands placed together in the attitude of entreaty. He seemed to say, “I cannot let you go unless you come and save my child. Please do come. Is there anything I can say that can get you to come? Let a father’s affection be my best argument. If my lips are not eloquent, let the tears of my eyes supply the place of the words of my tongue.”
What mighty prayers are those that seeking faith will make a person pray! I have heard the seeker sometimes plead with God with all the power that Jacob ever could have had at Jabbok’s brook. (Genesis 32:24-32). I have seen the sinner under distress of soul seem to take hold of the pillars of the gate of mercy and rock them to and fro as though he would sooner pull them up from their deep foundations than go away without effecting an entrance. I have seen sinners pull and tug, strive and fight and wrestle, rather than not enter the kingdom of heaven. No wonder that those who come before God with cold prayers do not find peace. Heat them red hot in the furnace of desire and they will burn their way upward to heaven. Those who merely say in the chill form of orthodoxy, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” will never find mercy. It is the person who cries in the burning anguish of heartfelt emotion, “God be merciful to me a sinner! Save me or I will perish!” who will gain his plea. It is the person who concentrates his soul in every word and flings the violence of his being into every sentence that wins his way through the gates of heaven. Seeking faith can make a person do this.
Holy Ghost, stir in my heart and heat my prayers to red hot. May the pillars of mercy be shaken today. Amen.
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