A Philadelphia lawyer was one day traveling across the Southern States years ago. Night came on and before he could find an inn he was obliged to turn in at a farmhouse on a plantation, and ask for lodging for the night. The farmer and his wife cordially invited the traveler to come in and share their fare.
During the evening he thought he saw something in the master of the house which he did not like. This awakened his suspicions. He began to feel uncomfortable. Finally they showed him his room where he was to sleep. It was right next to the one that the family occupied.
The lawyer was carrying quite a large sum of money with him, and he began to think that perhaps the people with whom he was staying were bad, dishonest people.
“Here I am,” he said to himself, “in this lonely place. If these people choose to murder me while I sleep, and take my money, what is to hinder them? I can’t get any help here, and I can’t get away on so dark a night.” Thoughts like these made him feel very uncomfortable. So what did he decide to do but to barricade the room and sit up all night so as to be ready to defend himself as best he could in case he should be attacked. He pulled down the windows, and piled up tables and chairs and everything moveable in the room, against the door. While he was thus busy, he heard a voice speaking in a low tone in the next room. This increased his alarm. To be sure, they are plotting my destruction, he thought. He put his ear to the keyhole, but what was his surprise to find that it was a voice of prayer that he heard. The family was kneeling at the throne of Grace, and the father was leading them in prayer.
The traveler, with his ear to the keyhole, heard these words in a low earnest voice: “Oh God, bless the stranger whom Thy providence has brought to lodge beneath our roof tonight.”
When the prayer was over, the traveler rose, and oh what a change had come over him! His fears had all vanished. Entirely at ease now, he removed the barricade from the door, and though not a Christian himself, he knew that he was in good and safe company that night, and he went to bed and slept soundly all night long. A place where God was worshipped and feared was a safe house to sleep in.
I wish I could tell you that the man himself turned to the Lord; this we do not know. We can hope so. Many will laugh and make fun of a Christian because of his faith and trust in God, but those same people would rather trust themselves to the company of a Christian than to the company of a gunman or robber.
The Christian may have trials and sorrows in this life, but he has the best of it in both worlds. He has the blessed privilege of witnessing for his Saviour down here on earth and pointing out to others the way to heaven, and one day soon he will be called on high to share the glory with Christ.
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life.” Philippians 2:15,1615That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. (Philippians 2:15‑16).
ML 12/08/1968