WALTER had toiled for wealth in many ways, but had failed; and now broken, disappointed, on the borders of despair, he sought money in gambling. The hollow eyes, the sunken cheeks, the ragged clothes all bore witness to his failure in the pursuit of gold.
At the corner of the alley where he occupied a single room, a little company gathered night after night to preach the gospel. They had to endure ridicule and scoffing, and among those who taunted them with laughter was Walter. He often tried to break up the gathering, but the preacher always answered with a kind word and a smile, and this angered Walter more than ever.
One night as he slouched along the dim street, his eye fell on a roll of paper in the gutter outside a jeweler’s shop. Money! Someone had dropped a roll of bills! He picked it up and, slipping it into his pocket, hurried home, overjoyed by his discovery.
Reaching his room, he drew out the roll, but great was his surprise to find it was a bundle of tracts! Angry beyond words, he threw them into the grate and put a match to them, and then left to go to the familiar bar with its company and song.
An hour later he returned to his room, and as he sat down, his eye rested a moment on the blackened papers. Some were only partially charred, and out of curiosity he picked up a piece with printing on it. He read these words, “My God shall supply all your need.”
“All my need!” exclaimed Walter. “Then let Him give me money!” and he threw the paper back into the grate. But the words would not leave him, and they went over and over again in his mind. He walked down to the riverside, thinking it might put a possible end to his misery, but a sudden urge compelled him to go home. He wondered if the man preaching at the corner could help him, and going up to the little group, listened to the gospel message. After it was over, he went up to the preacher and said, “Pardon me, sir. I have often tried to interrupt your preaching. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” replied the preacher. “We expect it, you know. Many don’t understand, or they would I welcome our message. It is the secret of real happiness and peace.”
“I think it’s something like that I want,” said Walter. “I’ve spent my life searching for gold, and I’ve failed. Can you help me? I read on a slip of paper the words, ‘My God shall supply all: your need.’ Is it true? What does it mean?”
“Mean? Why, that’s just the great truth,” replied the preacher. “God and God alone can give us perfect happiness. He offers it to us all in Jesus Christ. The Saviour died on Calvary to take away our sin, and when sin and guilt are gone, life becomes full of joy.”
The preacher went with the gambler to his cheerless room, and drawing the Gospel of John from his pocket, he said, “It’s all here about God’s love for the lost and lonely, for sad and sinful men.”
They talked long and earnestly, and after awhile they knelt down and prayed, and in that room Walter trusted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. “I want to work and make an honest living,” he said later. “I feel as if a dark cloud had passed, a great burden lifted, as if I were really beginning a new life.”
“And you will find,” said the preacher, “that God will supply, or help you to gain, all you need. In His strength you will be able to triumph over every temptation and win through in a happy and useful life; and what God gives is better, far better than gold.”
Perhaps, dear reader, you have been pursuing the things of this world, neglecting your precious, never-dying soul and the gospel of God’s grace? May you not rest until you too, like Walter, have believed and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Saviour and Lord. The joys and pleasures of this life will end some day, and then where will your soul be?
“Thou wilt show Me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Ps. 16:11.
ML-04/10/1960