Answered Prayer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 22, 1902

I ASKED for bread: God gave a stone instead, Yet while I pillowed there my weary head, The angels made a ladder of my dreams, Which upward to celestial mountains led. And when I woke, beneath the morning's beams, Around my resting place fresh manna lay; And, praising God, I went upon my way, For I was fed.

I asked for strength: for with the noon-tide heat I fainted, while the reapers, singing sweet, Went forward with ripe sheaves I could not bear, Then came the Master with his blood-stained feet, And lifted me with sympathetic care; Then on his arm I leaned till all was done; And I stood with the rest at set of sun, My task complete.

I asked for light: around me closed the night, Nor guiding star met my bewildered sight; For storm clouds gathered in a tempest near. Yet, in the lightning's blazing, roaring flight, I saw the way before me straight and clear. What though his leading pillar was of fire, And not the sunbeam of my heart's desire, My path was bright.

God answers prayer: sometimes, when hearts are weak, He gives the very gifts believers seek; But often faith must learn a deeper rest, And trust God's silence when he does not speak; For he, whose name is Love, will send to life the best. Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure, But God is true; his promises are sure To those who seek.

—Selected