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About thirty minutes before mealtime the steward again came to him, saying, “There is no food.” Now this man of faith followed the advice of Jesus. He persevered in his belief that food would be provided and in time. So he told the steward to go out and get ready for the food that would be there. In a few moments a wagon loaded with provisions came tearing up to the door and the children enjoyed their regular evening meal.
Millions of dollars came to this institution during the lifetime of this man as a direct result of his persevering prayer. His life was filled with miracles of faith. Why couldn’t you and I exercise the same belief in God and get the same results? Surely, This Thing Called Life will not give to one and withhold from another. Jesus said that God causes His sun and rain to come alike on the just and the unjust and Isaiah exclaimed, “Whosoever will may come.” It is not God’s reluctance, but our acceptance that we should watch.
Here was a man who would never permit himself to doubt. Perhaps, early in his experience, there were times when his prayers did not find fulfillment. But unlike most of us, he persevered. Be was like the woman Jesus told about who came to a judge in the middle of the night to ask for help. She rapped at the door and the judge told her to go away and come back in the morning, that he and his family were in bed and didn’t wish to be disturbed. But the woman paid no attention whatever. She kept on rapping until finally, in exasperation, he opened the door and attended her needs. Jesus was the wisest man who ever lived, and he wouldn’t have told us this story unless it had a meaning for all of us. Her persistence was an act of faith, a complete conviction that whatever is right, ought to be and can be.
Thomas Edison would try hundreds of experiments with certain ideas and when one failed he would merely say, “I am that much nearer the answer. If I have failed to arrive at it, it makes no difference. At least I am that much nearer the goal. Somewhere along the line I shall find the answer.” This was one of the great secrets of Edison’s success. He exercised limitless patience. But this patience was not with the laws of nature. It was not with This Thing Called Life at all. The patience Edison exercised was with himself. He knew the law was there and that in the split second when he obeyed it, it would answer.