Wilberforce and the Long Faithfulness

For twenty years, William Wilberforce watched slave traders grow rich. Ship owners in Liverpool built grand estates. Sugar merchants in Bristol threw lavish parties. Members of Parliament pocketed bribes and voted down every abolition bill Wilberforce introduced. Year after year — 1789, 1791, 1792, 1796, 1798, 1799 — defeat after defeat. His friends urged him to quit. His doctor warned his frail body could not sustain the fight. The wicked were plainly prospering, and the righteous cause seemed destined to fail.

But Wilberforce had committed his way to the Lord. Each morning he rose early for prayer and Scripture. Each session he returned to Parliament with another bill. He did not scheme or rage. He simply persisted — quietly, stubbornly, faithfully. He delighted himself in God's promise that justice would come, even when every vote said otherwise.

On February 23, 1807, the House of Commons finally passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by a vote of 283 to 16. The very men who had opposed him rose to their feet in applause. Wilberforce sat in his seat and wept.

The Psalmist wrote, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways." Wilberforce's life proves that those who trust in the Almighty and refuse to abandon righteousness will see His deliverance — sometimes after twenty years of faithful waiting.