December 23,1996
Dear Br. Chestnut:
Have you ever had the experience of worrying about something, of being so anxious and concerned that you may even have lost sleep over it? I remember several years ago when you were living in White Pine and were actively searching for a job. I knew you were troubled about being unable to provide for your family and feeling the constant pain of rejection when employer after employer turned down your applications. While you never mentioned it, I am sure you felt like a failure, especially when your wife was working and you were unemployed. I can only imagine the sleepless nights or hours of worry and anxiety you must have experienced, wondering if you would ever work again.
The last contact I had with you or your mother suggested that
you had a very lucrative job in California. I presume you still
have this job or another better one but the important thing and
the theme of this letter is that you are working and that God
answered your prayers.
Several years ago, the Lord impressed me to begin Homeward-Bound
Family Services. The mission of this company is to reflect the
glory or character of God through instruction in traditional Christian
family values. For several years, I limped along with pencil and
paper and hired secretarial services which were ineffective means
of conducting business. I realized that I could never achieve
success, in this venture, until I had a computer but none seemed
available. I did not have enough money to purchase one, I could
not borrow the money for we had lousy credit and I could not think
of any other way of securing the needed equipment. The idea languished
for months and months as I agonized over the lack of resources.
Several years before this mission was presented to me, I had a
small Radio Shack computer but sold it when it seemed that I no
longer had any use for it. I knew the purchaser wasn’t using
it either, therefore, I attempted to repurchase it from him. I
met with unexpected and bitter frustration. One day it seemed
that I could buy it but, within hours, the deal fell through.
I was so frustrated over this failure, that I literally cried
in despair.
Perhaps you have felt this way yourself. However, now you are
working and now I have the computer equipment I need to further
the Lord’s work. Things do sometimes work out even though
we can see no evidence or prospects for improvement.
This should teach us a lesson. We both claim to be Christians
trusting that the Lord loves us and has our best interests in
mind. If we truly believe this, then why do we despair when things
do not work according to our expectations?
On several occasions I reminded the Lord that the work He had
given me could not prosper until I had a computer. Why the delay,
I inquired? This seemed like a mystery to me and it is still a
mystery why He apparently waited so long before answering my prayers.
Have you ever wondered why He seemed to delay in answering your
prayers for employment?
If God loves us so much, then why doesn’t He hear and answer
our prayers sooner? These thoughts are rather childish and manifest
a childish misunderstanding of our Father and His actions. There
are many reasons why He can not answer prayer immediately the
first time we pray. Regarding your job, perhaps it was not yet
available when you first prayed or the circumstances were not
yet right, or perhaps Satan was interfering and making things
difficult.
In the situation of my prayer for computer equipment, I can only
speculate that perhaps my spiritual development and understanding
were still too immature to make the best use of this equipment,
which, by the way, was given to me, I neither bought it nor borrowed
money to purchase it.
As we look back over our lives perhaps you can agree with me that
those things we worried about either never materialized or were
resolved almost without our notice. Perhaps some things are still
pending but the experiences of Christians ought to suggest that
God does resolve the things we need or desire to our satisfaction
if we are patient and wait for His providence.
Another example of what I mean can be illustrated in the life
of our son. For 32 years my wife prayed for him that he would
give his life to the Lord. Over the years he sunk further and
further into sin until his life literally became a waste of unused
potential. The Lord brought him home to us last January for nine
days during which we had the opportunity to witness to him of
the Lord’s love, a witness that he refused to hear in former
years. On Friday, of that week, he repented in tears and bitterness
for his sins and wasted opportunities. The sins just flowed our
of him like water from a broken pitcher. The 32 years of prayers
were answered, my wife had the joy of seeing her son believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, confess his sins and repent of them. I
wonder if we could wait 32 years in hope and expectation that
the Lord would answer our prayers for a job or a computer. (As
you probably know the same evening he repented he drowned in the
creek just across the road from our house.)
The moral of this letter-we must never give up on the Lord but
wait patiently for His providential guidance and never quit presenting
our desires to Him in prayer.
Especially is this true for men. God has given us the spiritual
leadership of our families and He expects us to represent Him
to our families and to our greater family, the church and community
around us. We ought to be the model of patient expectation as
we wait upon the Lord for the blessings that He has promised us
so abundantly. If they seem to be delayed this is no cause for
complaining or grumbling but for renewed faith that He will pour
out the promised blessing when we most need it or when He sees
that the time is most propitious. He is too good to always give
us what we ask or when we ask for it. There is one thing, however,
that He gives the moment we ask and that is forgiveness for sins.
He never delays to answer this prayer when it comes as a result
of sincere confession and repentance. We need never fear that
our sins are unforgiven if we have faithfully confessed them.
We may have the constant daily and even hourly assurance of the
Lord’s blessing when we most earnestly confess our sins the
moment that the Holy Spirit convicts us of them.
Be of good courage, Brother Chestnut, God loves you and your wife.
He has not forsaken you. His thoughts, toward you, are only kindness
and goodness every moment of the day. He loves you, share this
love with another person, preferably a man, for men, more then
women need to see a practical demonstration of the love of the
Lord in the lives of another man before they can believe that
Christ loves them. Perhaps you can win many men to the Lord by
modeling Christ’s love for your brothers.
Allen A. Benson