No Want in Him

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 23, 1902

“O FEAR the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.”

God often lets his people reach the shore as on the planks of a shipwrecked vessel. He deprives us of the cisterns, in order to make us drink out of the fountains of waters. He frequently takes away our supports, not that we may fall to the ground, but that he may himself become our rod and our staff. The embarrassments of his people are only the festive scaffolding on which his might, his faithfulness, and his mercy celebrate their triumphs.—Krummacher.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matt. 7:7, 8. “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:13, 14. “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Matt. 6:25–34.

Alexander the Great had a famous but poor philosopher in his court. Being pressed for money, he made application for relief to his patron, who commissioned him to draw whatever cash he required from the treasury. The philosopher presented a request for ten thousand pounds, but the treasurer refused to honor it until he advised with his royal master, adding also that the amount was exorbitant. Alexander replied, “Pay the money at once: the philosopher has done me a singular honor; by the largeness of his request he shows the high idea he has conceived both of my wealth and munificence.” We cannot honor God more than by believing

what he says, and acting under the faith in all our requests at his throne. “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”—Anon.

From that time, in the heyday of a splendid young manhood, till the golden glory of a hallowed eventide closed around him, George Müller remained steadfast in his walk of faith. No fixed income had he. Not a penny did he ever ask of man toward his support; yet in the gracious providence of God he wanted “no manner of thing that is good.” The barrel of meal and the cruse of oil were always miraculously supplied. Yea, more, to faith as concerned himself be joined faith as concerned the work of God; and, upon the noble foundation of a childlike trust in the promises, was enabled to rear that enduring memorial of God’s bounteous goodness, which, starting in a small, humble way, grew and increased until it became a marvel in Christendom.—Warne’s Life of George Müller.