THIRD. We then, in conclusion, come to inquire into WHAT IS MEANT, or to be understood, BY THE GRANTING OF THE RIGHTEOUS THEIR DESIRES; 'The desire of the righteous shall be granted.'
FIRST. To grant is to yield to what is desired, to consent that it shall be even so as is requested: 'The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion, remember all thy—sacrifices: grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel' (Psa 20:1-4). SECOND. To grant is to accomplish what is promised; thus God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life, namely, for that he had promised it by the prophets from the days of old (Acts 11:18; Rom 15:9-12). THIRD. To grant, therefore, is an act of grace and condescending favour; for if God is said to humble himself when he beholds things in heaven, what condescension is it for him to hearken to a sinful wretch on earth, and to tell him, Have the thing which thou desireth. A wretch, I call him, if compared to him that hears him, though he is a righteous man, when considered as the new creation of God. FOURTH. To grant, then, is not to part with the thing desired, as if a desire merited, purchased, earned, or deserved it, but of bounty and goodwill, to bestow the thing desired upon the humble. Hence, God's grants are said to be gracious ones (Psa 119:29). FIFTH. I will add that to grant is sometimes taken for giving one authority or power to do, or possess, or enjoy such and such privileges; and so it may be taken here: for the righteous has a right to a power, to enjoy the things bestowed on them by their God. So, then, to grant is to give, to accomplish, even of free grace, the desire of the righteous.
This is acknowledged by David, where he saith to God, 'Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips' (Psa 21:2). And this is promised unto all that delight themselves in God, 'Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart' (Psa 37:4). And again, 'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him, he also will hear their cry, and will save them' (Psa 145:19). By all these places it is plain, that the promise of granting desires is entailed to the righteous, and also that the grant to them is an act of grace and mercy. But it also follows that though the desires of the righteous are not meritorious, yet they are pleasing in his sight; and this is manifest in several ways, besides the promise of a grant of them.
First, in that the desires of God, and the desires of the righteous, jump or agree in one, they are of one mind in their desires: God's desire is to the work of his hands, and the righteous are for surrendering that up to him. 1. In giving up the heart unto him; 'My son,' says God, 'give me thy heart' (Prov 23:26). 'I lift my soul to thee,' says the righteous man (Psa 25:1, 86:4; Lam 3:41). Here, therefore, there is an agreement between God and the righteous; it is, I say, agreed on both sides that God should have the heart: God desires it, the righteous man desires it, yea, he desires it with a groan, saying, 'Incline my heart unto thy testimony' (Psa 119:36). 'Let my heart be sound in thy statutes' (Psa 119:80). 2. They are also agreed about the disposing of the whole man: God is for body, and soul, and spirit; and the righteous desires that God should have it all. Hence, they are said to give themselves to the Lord (2 Cor 8:5), and to addict themselves to his service (1 Cor 15:16). 3. God desireth truth in the inward parts, that is, that truth may be at the bottom of all (Psa 51:6,16), and this is the desire of the righteous man likewise: 'Thy word have I hid in my heart,' said David, 'that I might not sin against thee' (Psa 119:11). 4. They agree in the way of justification, in the way of sanctification, in the way of preservation, and in the way of glorification, to wit, which way to come at and enjoy all: wherefore, who should hinder the righteous man, or keep him back from enjoying the desire of his heart? 5. They also agree about the sanctifying of God's name in the world, saying, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' There is a great agreement between God and the righteous; 'he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit' (1 Cor 6:17). No marvel, then, if their desires in the general, so far as the righteous man doth know the mind of his God, are one, consequently their desires must be granted, or God must deny himself.
Second. The desires of the righteous are the life of all their prayers; and it is said, 'The prayer of the upright is God's delight.'
Jesus Christ put a difference betwixt the form and spirit that is in prayer, and intimates the soul of prayer is in the desires of a man; 'Therefore,' saith he, 'I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them' (Mark 11:24). If a man prays never so long, and has never so many brave expressions in prayer, yet God counts it prayer no further than there are warm and fervent desires in it, after those things the mouth maketh mention of. David saith, 'Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee' (Psa 38:9). Can you say you desire, when you pray? or that your prayers come from the braying, panting, and longing of your hearts? If not, they shall not be granted: for God looks, when men are at prayer, to see if their heart and spirit are in their prayers; for he counts all other but vain speaking. Ye shall seek me, and find me, says he, when you shall search for me with all your heart (Rom 8:26,27; Matt 6:7; Jer 29:12). The people that you read of in 2 Chronicles 15 are there said to do what they did 'with all their heart, and with all their soul.' 'For they sought God with their whole desire' (2 Chron 15:11-15). When a man's desires put him upon prayer, run along with him in his prayer, break out of his heart and ascend up to heaven with his prayers, it is a good sign that he is a righteous man, and that his desire shall be granted.
