“And is not that presumption on your part?” she asked.
“Which? The prayer, or the expectation?” said Mr Craig. “Not the prayer, surely, when He says, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find.’ ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, believing, ye shall receive.’ ‘Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’ Is it presumption to ask blessings for those whom God so loved that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die that they might live? ‘Will He not with Him also freely give them all things?’ Truly, I think the presumption would lie in not asking, or in asking and not expecting to receive.”
In the pause that followed, Christie, with a strange feeling at her heart, pondered the words.
“Well,” said Aunt Elsie, in a moment, “I dare say it is as well that you have these thoughts to encourage you. The Bible can do nobody harm, at any rate; and it may do good to the bairns at the school.”
Mr Craig opened his lips, as though he were going to answer her; but he did not. By and by he said—quite as much as though he were speaking to himself as to her:
“Yes; it is indeed a good thing to have God’s promise to fall back upon. My work would be vain and weary work without that. And so would any work to which I could put my hand. There are folk in the world who live with no hope or trust in God’s promised blessing. How they do it I cannot tell.”
“God is good to many a one who thinks little of Him or of His care; or what would become of the world and the thousands in it?” said Aunt Elsie, with a sigh.
Mr Craig gave her a quick look.
“Yes: He is kind to the evil and the unthankful. But I was thinking of the blessedness of those who have the daily and hourly sense of God’s presence with them and His fatherly care over them. In time of trouble, and at all times, indeed, it is sweet to know that we have His word and promise for all that we possibly need.”
“Yes,” said Aunt Elsie, uneasily, and rather coldly. “There is much truth in what you say.”