Barbed-wire people

Barbed wire for a Valentine's Day blog? Yes, because
we all know people who have barriers against trusting Christ.

I have a page of names in my prayer notebook under the title “Salvation.” Some names were put there 35 years ago! Sometimes I get discouraged, wondering if they will ever recognize the poverty of life apart from a relationship with Christ Jesus. But I fall back on the truth that God is eternal and never gives up, even on these people who have erected spiritual barbed wire fences around themselves, thinking they can keep Him out of their lives.

Sometimes we hear the phrase “the Hound of Heaven” in connection with salvation. The name comes from a 182-line Christian poem by Englishman Francis Thompson (1839-1907). (By the way, the poem influenced J.R.R. Tolkien, known recently through extravagant movies retelling his “Lord of the Rings” stories.) The phrase comes from the image of a hound ceaselessly (“with all deliberate speed”) chasing a hare, like God follows a fleeing soul by His divine grace.  I find that image helpful in praying for the unsaved—that, as it were, the “chase” will eventually cause them to pay attention to the God who loves them more than they can ever imagine, even in their rejection of Him.

 I’m also encouraged to persevere in praying because of stories from lives of people of prayer, like George Mueller. In the 1800s, this man established many orphanages in London.  He was legendary for praying in the daily necessities for feeding and clothing the orphans. Mike wagons or bakery wagons would break down right in front of the orphanages, just in time to feed them breakfast. He lived to be 91, with seventy of those years in vigorous service for God. He once said he could count 50,000 specific answered prayers in his lifetime.

One time, somebody asked, “Have you ever prayed for something you have not received?”  Mueller replied, “Sixty-seven years ago I began praying for fifteen men.  Two of them have not been saved.”  There are various versions of the “end of the story,” but the prevailing account is that one became a Christian at Mueller’s funeral, and the other a few years later.

And so, every time I turn to that “salvation” page or think of these people, I pray. I also remember the images in Revelation 5:8 and 8:3, which tells of “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints,” offered before God. He never throws prayers away, but keeps them in heavenly storage for answers in His way, His time, and to His glory. Even the prayers for those “barbed-wire” people.