Moments of Anticipation

“And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal Mm” — Matt. viii. 7.

There are some prayers which are answered only by the promise of an answer. The centurion prays for his servant that he may be healed instantaneously; the immediate response is, I mil come. Have you and I never experienced this? We have asked something which has not at once been granted, and yet we have been made to feel that there was something more than silence. We have felt in our hearts what seemed the prophecy of an answer, a nameless, unspeakable strength which told us it would one day all be well. The summer did not come immediately, but the swallows came into our spring, and the interpretation of their song was this, “It will come.”

My soul, do not despise thy moments of anticipation. They have no present gifts to bring, but they bring the promise of great gifts to come; they have no immediate answer to thy prayer, but they tell thee of a time when thy prayer will be answered. Thinkest thou it is a light thing to have such moments? Great men have lived on them and died on them. Did not Abraham leave his country and his fathers house with no other food in his heart than the strength of a promise? Was it not that promise that helped him to climb the Mount Moriahs of life, and to meet on their summits the great sacrifices to which life is heir; he was made strong by the power of aspiration, by the voice which each morning said to him, “I will come.” So shalt thou too be strong, 0 my soul. If thou shalt set out on thy journey with the prophecy of an answered prayer, thou too shalt climb Mount Moriah with unfaltering feet, thou too with unblanched cheek shalt meet the sacrifice on its summit. The glory of to-morrow shall prefigure itself through the tears of to-day, and the song of the approaching swallows shall be heard amid the snow; all shadows vanish from that heart to which God has said, “I will come.”