(6.) God’s seeing our distress or knowing our wants, is sometimes to be understood in scripture, as containing the nature of a promise, relating to the supply thereof: Thus our Saviour tells his disciples, in Matt. vi. 32. Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things; which is the same as though he had told them, that God had promised or designed to bestow those outward blessings upon them: And when he designed, or promised to deliver his people out of the bondage, in which they were in Egypt, he says, I have surely seen the affliction of my people: I know their sorrows, &c. Exod. iii. 7. Thus concerning the manner in which the promises are laid down in scripture.
We shall now consider how they are to be made use of in order to our direction and encouragement in prayer. And here it may be observed, that the promises either respect outward, or spiritual blessings, both of which we are to pray for: Thus the apostle says, in 1 Tim. iv. 8. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come; the former respects the temporal dispensations of providence; the latter, grace and glory, or the things that accompany salvation.
[1.] We shall consider the promises that respect temporal or outward blessings which we are obliged to pray for, as we stand in need of them. These are of various kinds;
1st, There are promises of health and strength, whereby our passage through this world may be made easy and comfortable, and we better enabled to glorify God therein: Thus it is said, in Prov. iii. 7, 8. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. And in Psal. ciii. 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.
2dly, There are promises of food and raiment, or the necessary provisions and conveniences of life, in Psal. xxxvii. 3. Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And in Deut. x. 18. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
3dly, There are promises of comfort and peace in our dwellings, in Job v. 24. ‘Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.’ And, in Psal. xci. 10. ‘There shall no evil befal thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.’ And in Psal. cxxi. 8. ‘The Lord shalt preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth and forevermore.’
4thly, There are promises of quiet and composed rest by night, on our beds, in Job xi. 18, 19. Thou shalt take thy rest in safety: Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid. And in Prov. iii. 24. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid; yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
5thly, There are promises of success, and a blessing to attend us in our worldly callings, in Psal. cxxviii. 2. Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. And in Deut. xxviii. 4, 5, 12. ‘Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land, in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and shalt not borrow.’ And in Psal. i. 3. ‘He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doth shall prosper.’
6thly, There are promises of an intail of blessings on our families, in Psal. cxxviii. 3. ‘Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.’ And, in Psal. ciii. 17. ‘The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children’s children.’ And, in Psal. cii. 28. ‘The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.’ And, in Psal. xlv. 16. ‘Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.’
I might have mentioned many more promises of outward blessings, which God will bestow on his people, though with this limitation, so far as it may be for his glory, and their real good, viz. such as respect riches, as in Psal. cxii. 3. ‘Wealth and riches shall be in his house; and his righteousness endureth for ever;’ or honours, as in 1 Sam. ii. 30. and these accompanied with long life; as, in Prov. iii. 17. ‘Length of days are in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.’ And, in Psal. xxxiv. 12, 13. ‘What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile;’ or, if God does not think fit to give them this, he will take them out of the world in mercy, and gather them into a better, to prevent their seeing the evil he designs to bring on the inhabitants thereof, Isa. lvii. 1. ‘The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.’ He has also promised some blessings that respect their good name, in Zeph. iii. 20. ‘I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth.’ And in Prov. x. 7. ‘The memory of the just is blessed.’ But that which I shall principally add concerning these and such-like outward blessings, is, that God has not only promised, that he will give them to his people, but that he will sanctify them to them for their spiritual advantage, and enable them to improve them aright to his glory, which will render them more sweet and desirable to them. Thus God has promised,