THE prayers were heard, and the preachers came yes, two of the very preachers whose names were mentioned in the little newspaper, and by whom God had sent messages of deliverance and peace to many a needy soul, came to the very place where Louie was; a gospel preaching was announced, and Louie was among the number of those who went to hear. Now, she thought, was the time for her to be delivered from her burden. She was surprised and disappointed, and perhaps you too will be surprised to hear, that she sat and listened and expected and hoped, but yet the evening wore away, all was over, and Louie left the building, as she had entered it, unsaved.
There may have been many reasons for this. Love had long watched over Louie, had long had patience with her unbelief, her hardness of heart, her carelessness, and her self-righteousness; but while Love had watched, the enemy of souls, Satan, had (no doubt) watched too, and had delighted in Louie's fears and sorrows, and in her readiness to receive the false and foolish thoughts which he stirred up in her heart. Doubtless he desired still to keep her as his slave, and as, through the mercy of God, Satan could not prevent her from desiring salvation or from seeking after it, he filled her mind with thoughts about the preachers and about herself, and occupied her heart with hoping something from the preachers, and so she got nothing. For no preachers, as we know, could save us, and also no preacher can bring us to the blessed peace-giving knowledge that our sins are forgiven, that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. No word of a preacher, nothing but the word of God can give light to the soul; and the soul must have to do with Christ Jesus the Son of God, must hear His word by faith, before it can have eternal life. There is none other name (none but the name of Jesus) under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. But Jesus said, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life."
So Louie came away from that preaching and from yet another without obtaining what she looked for, but God had not forgotten her; He was, no doubt, teaching her a lesson which she needed to learn. Perhaps, if while listening to the noted preachers, Louie had found herself freed from the burden of fears and questions which had so long oppressed her, she might afterward have said, “Ah! I suffered all those years of torment for want of hearing the right preachers." But, as God ordered things, Louie was to learn, and would have to own, that the years of torment were the consequence of her own foolishness in listening to her own wicked and deceitful heart, being filled with her own thoughts, instead of waiting to hear the thoughts of God, "thoughts of peace and not of evil."
Thus several weeks passed on, and Louie still went from place to place; for God had, in His goodness, awakened a real need in her soul, and He did not allow it to be choked up with any of the many false comforts which Satan and man are so ready to bring forward; but at last "the time to favor her, yea the set time" was come. There was no great preacher that day, no crowded assembly, no stir or expectation; the wave of special blessing seemed to have almost passed away from the town and, except for a few precious fruits which it had left, things appeared to have dropped back into their usual quiet routine; but God can work without great preachers or expectant crowds, and Louie was sitting in a quiet room, in a very quiet little street, at a very quiet little Bible reading when the word reached her.
She had never guessed, when she took her seat, that the blessing she had so long sought was to reach her that day, and she was almost startled when, in the midst of the reading, some one asked the very question that had so long been sounding and resounding in her heart—How does the sinner become a child of God? The answer was given in the words of Galatians 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26), "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
It was a simple word, but it was the incorruptible seed, the living, life-giving word of God; and it was God's message to Louie; His message to her at that moment. It was a solemn moment. Would she hear the word, would she cast away every other thought, every other trust; would she own that the word, the simple word, without help of man, the word she had so long known and heard, was all that was needed, God's instrument to bring her from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God? The Lord Himself graciously opened Louie's heart; He presented Himself before her as the one Savior, the only Savior, the all-sufficient Savior, the Savior sent of the Father, who had borne all the punishment due for her many sins, whose precious blood cleansed from all sin. Louie believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, she received the word, she received Him whom that word presented, and, like a river, all that she had ever longed for of safety, certainty, peace, love and joy flowed into her empty, needy, thirsty soul. All, yes all, her desires met, all her hopes and longings realized, and far, far more, for it enters not into the heart of man to conceive the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God reveals them to His own children by His Spirit. Louie now knew God, the God whom she had so ignorantly sought after, as her Father; she could cry, Abba Father, she knew the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus of whom she had so often sadly read and sung, as her Savior, her own Savior. It was bright light indeed, shining without shadow, even “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ."
How real Louie's Bible became to her now! The precious blood of Christ was precious to her now. The Name of Jesus was above every Name to her now. The love of God was sweet to her now, and it was shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost which was given to her. She was no longer a lonely traveler along the dreary road of time, death and judgment; no more a stranger, but a fellow-citizen with the saints and of the household of God; begotten of Him, she loved, with a fresh, sweet, strong love those that were His.
Have you, dear reader, simply received the word of God? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you the same blessed portion that Louie found?
“The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."
“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him."
“How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures."
“Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered."
“How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them; if I should count them, they are more in number than the sand of the sea."
He is coming! Who is coming?
Is it one whom I shall fear?
Not if I by faith have known Him
As the One who suffered here;
As the One who loved me, gave me
All that Love divine could give,
As the One who died to save me,
Me the lost, that I might live.
He is coming! Even Jesus,,
He who once in perfect grace,
Spotless Lamb of God's ordaining,
Took the guilty sinner's place;
Drank the cup of wrath o'erwhelming,
With His blood the ransom paid,
Sin's dread punishment enduring,
For our souls atonement made.
He is coming! Even Jesus,
He, the Savior glorified,
Faithful in His love, will gather
To Himself His ransom'd Bride.
“Caught up" in that wondrous “moment,"
Raised by voice and power divine,
They who now by faith behold Him
In His likeness then shall shine.
He is coming! Even Jesus,
Who once here in lowly grace,
Was the weary outcast stranger,
Soon will claim His rightful place.
He, the Christ of God, appointed
Heir of all things, comes to reign;
Judgment clears the way before Him;
All must own His title then.
He is coming Who is ready
For the brightness of that day?
Only they who, to Him coming,
Get their sins now washed away.
They shall hear His voice, and rising
Glorified, with Him shall be,
When, a careless world surprising,
He comes forth to victory.
He is coming! quickly coming!
Oh will any yet delay?
What if that blest coming find them
Unprepared by Mercy's day?
Then the brightness of His coming
Shall their every hope destroy;
Endless anguish all their portion
In the day of cloudless joy.
He is coming Who is coming?
Christ, the Savior, Son of Man,
Executing in perfection,
God the Father's wondrous plan.
Son of God, Jehovah, Jesus,
Son of David, Salem's King,
Joy of Heaven, and Earth's Redeemer
Heaven and earth Thy praise shall sing.
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