Above thy head bright stars thou may'st behold—
Beyond thy reach, a multitude untold;
Formed by the almighty breath of power divine,
Unhelp'd, unharm'd by man, they perfect shine:
But opportunities around thy feet,
Those tiny things thy daily footsteps meet,
Are seeds, which prized by faith and nursed by love,
May yet unfold and shine like gems above.
2 Kings 5:1-141Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. 2And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 4And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 8And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (2 Kings 5:1‑14).
2KI 5:1-141Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. 2And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 4And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 8And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (2 Kings 5:1‑14)I DARE SAY you have all heard before of the "Little Maid" — "The Little Captive Maid," as we so often call her; but we must remember that she was not always a captive, she had lived in her own home once. We are not told exactly where it was, but I think it was a happy home, for the little maid bore marks of a happy home-an instructed, hopeful loving heart,—even in the land of her captivity.
Israel was her own land, still a favored land, though the dark shadow of Jeroboam's idolatry had already lain for more than sixty years upon it. Yes, it was a shadowed and still darkening place, but the little maid lived in the rays of light that still shone down on His people from the faithful heart of God: and no child now need live in the dark shadow brought by man's sinful heart and sinful ways, for if rays of light shone then upon the favored land, much more do streams of light and grace pour down now, on every laud, in this favored day since "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The bright light and warm love are all around you. The eyes need only be opened to see, and the heart to receive, and it will all come pouring in.
"Oh! the glory of the grace
Shining in the Savior's face,
Telling sinners, from above,
God is light and God is love."
The little maid's home was most likely in the northern half of the land of Israel, perhaps not far from Samaria; about eighty miles north of Samaria was the land of the Syrians; they were a bold people, and they desired to possess themselves of the good things of that still goodly land, and they saw nothing, in the weak condition of the failing and rebellious people of Israel, to make them afraid.
A great change had taken place since the time, five hundred and fifty years before, when even the people who were settled in the land and dwelling in strong walled cities, had heard how God undertook for His own people; when Rahab could say, "I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. Our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath."
This was according to the promise of God, given in Deut. 28:1010And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. (Deuteronomy 28:10): “All people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee," but the people had forsaken the Lord, and lost this promise.
The great doings of God, when His people had nothing; when, a weak and needy people, they were borne, as on eagles' wings, through the waste howling wilderness, had struck terror into the hearts of their strongest enemies. But now, since the great doings of God had been so forgotten, even by those in whose favor they had been wrought, and since Jeroboam had represented that great God under " the similitude of an ox that eateth grass," the Syrians' hearts found nothing to faint at, and they feared not to come out by companies and take captives from among the people of Jehovah: thus the little maid had found herself suddenly carried away from her pleasant home, and taken to the strange, dark land of Syria.
She was to live in a very grand house now; probably much grander than her home among the vines and figs and olives and pomegranates had been; for she was brought to the house of Naaman, captain of the host of Syria, and a great man with the king; but I am sure the grandeur of the Syrian mansion could not make up to this poor little girl for her own home. You know how much your heart would cling to your own home, how much you would long after it, even though it were but two little rooms, with bare whitewashed walls and uncarpeted floors, and plainest wooden chairs and tables-if you were away as a little slave in a great palace.
The little girl's business was to wait on Naaman's wife; she had been brought home to Naaman's house, and given to his wife for a present, just as some one might now bring home and give you a big doll, or a canary, or a kitten; but no one, in this country, could steal or buy and bring home a little girl; such a present would be refused as shocking and horrible.
The ladies in Syria lived in great indolence and luxury, and the little maid's chief duty was, most likely, to stand beside her grand mistress and just fan her, or hand her things, wash her hands for her, and do all kinds of services that now we should not think of asking or wishing any one else to do for us, unless we were deprived of the use of our own hands and feet.
Naaman, no doubt, was received with great honor and favor by the king of Syria, when he returned with his spoils from the land of Israel; but there was a very sad affliction in that home of grandeur and strength and luxury, and it touched Naaman himself: he was ill, and getting every day worse, with the dreadful disease of leprosy. This is a disease still common in Syria and other eastern countries: travelers coming there are often met, outside the gates of the cities, by crowds "of poor lepers; they beg of the traveler and show their terrible need by holding up, some, arms without hands; some, legs without feet; some, hands without fingers. It must be a horrible sight, for this dreadful disease not only, like other illnesses which we know of, gradually takes away the strength of the poor sufferer, but it also, by degrees, takes away his hands, his feet, and other parts of his body.
The little maid had no very hard work to do; perhaps the dull idleness of her life with Naaman's wife was just as hard to bear as hard work would have been, but while she stood fanning her mistress, or simply waiting in readiness to answer a call, she had plenty of time to think.
And whom was she thinking about? Was it about herself? Her own great sorrows? All that tried her and troubled her in her new, strange home? All that she wished she need not do, or all that she wished she could do?
No; all these would have been useless thoughts: I don't think we should ever have had the story of the little maid if these had been her thoughts. She was not occupied with herself, her own troubles, or her own advantage; she was thinking of the great captain, her master, who had brought her away.
And now, I think, we see the Sweet grace of forgiveness in this little maid. Naaman and his fierce soldiers had been the cause of all the sorrow which must have filled the heart of the poor child, of all the tears she must have shed, but her thoughts of him were all pity and love. She grieved to see him suffer. She grieved, as she saw the sorrow which this affliction must have daily caused her mistress. And the little maid did not only pity; no, she had come from the only land of grace and healing power; a land of shadow, yet of light and hope, and she had not dwelt in the midst of these good things to come away from them with an empty heart. All the wise Syrian servants might shake their heads hopelessly as they looked at their stricken master, but this one little girl from the land of Jehovah, had light and hope in her heart, and a remedy to propose.
No doubt the child, who could pity her master and thus remember the one help for the afflicted, had sought and found help for herself, and had found, as those who seek will ever find, comfort and wisdom and guidance for her new sad life. She seems to have grown in that strange place like Joseph, the captive in Egypt “the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keepers of the prison;" or like the child Samuel, who was in favor with the Lord and also with men. A very lowly, humble, hidden place was that of this little maid; even her name is not recorded, but the Lord could be with her in that hidden place, and give her the right thought, and the right time for speaking to her mistress, and favor with those who heard, so that her words should not be disregarded, as the words of many a little captive girl might have been.
How wisely, too, the little maid kept her proper place she did not go out and speak to the great captain; she spoke to her mistress. I think the little maid had been careful in her speech before; I think her words and, ways must have told of better things than the greatest in that Syrian land had ever tasted, or else the honored servants of the captain's house, and the great Naaman, and even the king himself would not have been moved at the suggestion she had made; and the train of attendants, with their chariots and horses, and the suffering captain, would not all have taken a journey at the word of this one little girl.
Naaman went, and he found it to be even as the child had said; the prophet Elisha was there, the power was with him and the willingness; when Naaman obeyed his word he found the blessing which the child had spoken of: he was healed. “Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."
We know not where the stream of blessing, first opened in the house by the hand of that humble, faithful, forgiving little captive, ended. What a day of joy it must have been when Naaman returned quite cured-for God cures quite, when He is turned to; and it was not only an outside cure: Naaman's heart came back from the favored land with the same light and hope that the little maid had carried with her from thence; and might not the wife, who had sorrowed, who had hoped, and who rejoiced with Naaman, also share the blessing which, though not a leper, she needed as much as he? The servants, too, whose kind longing and care for their master is told us in 2 Kings 5:1313And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? (2 Kings 5:13), might find the blessing flowing on to them; and the child, who had given out of the treasures stored up in her little, lonely heart, would find herself not poorer but richer for all that she had given: for so it ever is, when we give of the good things which God has given to us—"He that watereth shall be watered also himself."
Though thousand needs were met before,
And thousands yet surround the door,
Grace upon grace doth ceaseless pour—
God giveth ever more and more.
How came this poor little captive maid to get and to give so much — "As poor, yet making many rich"? What could seem weaker or poorer or less likely to help or to give than a little captive, a little girl snatched suddenly away from all her belongings, probably having scarcely a thing with her that she could call her own?
But she had something; yes, even she; and you have the same.
Are you like the little captive maid—a giver, and a helper? Should you like to be like this little girl? What had this little girl? What have you?
Opportunities! And she prized them, that is she picked them up, and took care of them, and then she used them.
This is a long word—Opportunities. Do you understand it? Perhaps some little children do not know well what is meant by opportunities, and even very little children have opportunities, so they ought to understand what they are.
I suppose you have all seen a flowering plant-sweet scented Mignonette, or bright little Virginian stock, or pretty blue Nemophila, or tall Sweet Pea, and many others which you may think of and add to my list; what was to be seen of these sweet flowering plants a few months before they enlivened the garden or the town window?
If you are a little gardener, as many children are, you know well. Into the ground you put, not a tall or even a tiny stalk with fresh green leaves and bright or scented flowers, but a dry, dark seed, it might be a big seed like Sweet Pea, or a tiny black speck like Nemophila.
Now, opportunities are like these seeds; they are scattered all round you; they may not look like anything of worth, they may give no hint of the sweet bright flowers they will bear, but look about for them, don't let your feet run carelessly along your daily path, crushing and wasting the precious seeds; don't let your eyes wander about in search of all kinds of things that are not given to you; but look around, look carefully for the little seeds that are at your feet:
The wind has not blown those seeds into your pathway, as many seeds are blown; no every seed has been laid there by God. When you know this you will pick it up and say: God sent this seed to me; God gave me this opportunity. Oh! how carefully then it will be nursed, not in a garden or a pot filled with best mold, but in a heart filled with faith and love.
Some seeds are your very own; they are no one else's, and these are seeds of the most precious kind, they are opportunities of getting good. You will have to remember and give account of them one day. “For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required."
And it is written, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
This is told us to warn and encourage us, that we may make haste, if we have not begun before, and look about, and pick up, and nurse our own precious little seeds.
Children often have a garden given to them for their very own; perhaps a kind father gives you the little bit of ground. He has it dug up for you, he gives you little packets of seeds; he gives you a little watering-pot with which to water your garden; he does not leave you then, he is always ready to give instruction or advice or help to the little gardener. You sow your seeds, you water, you watch. What day are you looking forward to?
“Oh," you say, " I am looking forward to the day when my dear father who gave the garden and the seeds will come to see the way I have sown them, and will be pleased with the order of the garden and the bright flowers that fill it."
Supposing a father said, “There is a bit of ground, and there are some seeds, but now I can't think any more about your garden; you must not trouble me to look at the flowers when they are grown; you can have them all for yourself, and if they don't grow I shall never know it." What dull, dreary work it would be! Who would care for such a garden God does not give us opportunities and then leave us to make the best we can of them. No; He gives, He helps, He takes account of all.
The other seeds in your pathway are opportunities of doing good: these seeds cannot be crushed and wasted, as the first kind can, but they are often passed by. Those who do not prize the seeds which are their very own, their opportunities of getting good, are not likely to prize, and are not able to use the other seeds that lie a little way off from them; they pass on and do not see them; perhaps some one else coming after will pick up those precious opportunities, but they might have been yours to nurse.
Now, let us think over some of your precious seeds, your opportunities of getting good. I cannot tell you all of them, nor exactly all about them; I do not know just where you live, nor whom you live with, nor all that is in and around your home, but all these things God knows; He has determined the bounds of our habitation, and each one of us may say, "He knoweth the way that I take." He knows what seeds lie there. He who counts the hairs of our heads, counts also the seeds He gives. Will not you try to count them too “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and FORGET NOT all his benefits."
Some of your opportunities are the same as those of the little maid. You have heard about God, and you have heard of Him in a way that the little maid could not, for God is now revealed in a nearness and tenderness that was unknown before Jesus came. God is known in. Christ to be Love: Christ was always the Lamb foreordained, that is, always chosen of God to be the Savior of the world, but He was only manifested in these last times for you. Still, the little maid had learned enough of God to know where to look in the day of need; when she saw Naaman's affliction, she said, “Would God." It was not only “I wish," her wish was made known to God, she depended on God for its answer, and what was the consequence of this? She had a firm expectation. She says, without any doubt, He would recover him of his leprosy.
The little maid had heard of God: she knew something of the power and the goodness of God. She also had known one who was a vessel of grace and healing: every Christian now, every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is such a vessel, but in that day God's messages and God's gifts were sent chiefly through a few; these were called prophets. The little maid at home had known the prophet Elisha, and she had treasured up a loving, trusting remembrance of the man of grace.
Ah! here we have a solemn lesson; perhaps you already guess what it is. You have not, I am sure, forgotten the miserable children of Bethel, who it was they met; it was the same whom the little maid had known—Elisha; the same Elisha, but how differently known to them, how differently treated by them! Those forty-two children had the same opportunity as the little maid but how crushed and wasted; nay, more than wasted! The seed which, nursed in the little maid's heart with love and faith, proved a savor of life to the suffering Naaman, and perhaps to many round him, proved to be a savor of death to the forty-two children of Bethel.
I have seen as many as forty-three children together, all with the same precious seed in their hands. All together, in the presence of some messenger of Christ; all hearing together of the love of Jesus. Oh! sad indeed, if out of the forty-three, only one were to prize the opportunity and get the blessing. And if, instead of forty-three, it is only two or three children sitting together in their own quiet home, hearing together of Jesus, together learning those holy scriptures which the child Timothy once learned, and by which he became wise unto salvation, together saying or singing sweet hymns; shall they not together prize the precious opportunity, pray that their hearts may be as good ground for the seed to fall into, and bear fruit unto life eternal God, who gives you the seed, watches you too, and waits to give the blessing: remember how Jesus said, "It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
Another opportunity you have, besides hearing or learning; it is daily reading. Do you prize this opportunity? It is yours, a seed in your pathway, even if you have never used it.
The little maid, perhaps, had not this opportunity, for books, as I told you in the story of Josiah, were few and scarce at that time; but in this day, since books are so plentiful, since the one precious book for the daily reading, the Bible, is so near you, so within reach of the poorest as well as of the youngest child who can read, there is no one, who reads at all, who can say, "I have not this precious opportunity." It is not much time that is wanted, or much learning; it is a heart to prize the opportunity.
David said — "How sweet are thy words unto my taste; yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."
The mouth of a child can taste the sweetness of honey; and a child can taste the sweetness of the word of God, if only it reads with a simple, praying, expecting heart.
Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words." Do you love Jesus?
“We love him because he first loved us:” and how shall we know that love, and have it in our hearts, filling them with love in return, if we do not read the precious book where light and love shine on every page?
There were once two little girls who prized this opportunity; their names were Jane and Ann. I have known other little girls and boys who did the same, but I have chosen these to tell you of because none of you can say, “I have less opportunity than Jane and Ann," as you will hear. These little girls lived in Wales, many, many years ago, when there were many lonely Welsh valleys where Christian teaching, and Bible reading, and hymn singing were seldom heard: the seeds there, at that time, were small and few, but they were as precious and fruitful as ever for those who picked them up. The little girls had a sick mother, she could do little for herself; and almost nothing for her children. They did a great deal for her; they waited on her, they loved her, they talked to her; besides this, they worked hard for her, at such work as little girls could do. They could not use great strength, for they had not got that, nor great learning, nor great cleverness; these things they had not got, but they made good use of their time. Almost every moment of daylight they had to give to plaiting straw; by this they supported themselves and their mother.
Time is a precious opportunity; it is like the Bread-fruit tree, which will bear fruit of some kind, not once in a year only, but all the year round, if properly cared for. Still, Jane and Ann did not think that when they had waited on their mother, and plaited their yards of straw, they had used all their opportunities: a lady, who happened to meet with them, found a precious fruit in these little girls which had not come only from a value for time, she found their hearts stored with the words and lessons of scripture. Whole Psalms and chapters Jane and Ann could repeat; all sorts of questions they could answer; and when the lady went to see their home, wondering what opportunities they had of reading and learning so much, she found that they had what some would have called no opportunity at all; but they kept a Bible open before them,, while they plaited their straw, and thus they read and learned, while they kept on, hour by hour, at their busy work. What nice little nurses these children must have been for the poor sick mother! with tears in her eyes she told the visitor that no one could guess what a comfort her little girls were to her.
I can hardly think how two children, of twelve and thirteen, could get through so many hours of close work, day after day. I don't suppose any of you have to try and do as much as they did. Most of you have no need to keep your Bibles open while you are working at something else, but if you have a sick mother, or an aged grandfather, or a little brother or sister who cannot read, would it not be nice if you began now and read to them, two or three verses, every day from your own Bible? But first of all, if you have not done it already, begin with yourself; surely, if you seek for it, you will, find the opportunity-ten minutes' time, some little quiet corner where you can open your Bible and read for yourself some of those precious words—His words, who said, "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life."
Long ago, there lived in Germany a very pious and useful servant of God; it would fill my whole book if I tried to tell you all the good he did. He taught old men and little children; he encouraged the fearful, he warned the careless, he fed the hungry, he doctored the sick; and what do you think was the first thing that touched his heart, that made him pause and consider, when he was quite a little boy, that God had not made him and set him down here just to skip through life and pass his time as best he could, but that he, was sent down here to get and to give He saw nothing wonderful; it was a very simple sight in his own home.
“My sister," he says, "who was three years older than I, used daily to read and pray in her own room, and I never forgot her example, nor the sweet influence which, by it and her loving words, she exercised over me."
Besides this the good German, after he was grown old, wrote a little letter to the children whom he loved, and though you are not one of those particular children, yet I am sure he would be glad for you to read it, so I will put a part of it here for you. He says, "Dearly beloved children, it would give me great pleasure to see you loving the word of God, and daily reading it. Though you had nothing else all your life but God and His word, and clung to it with your whole heart, you would be the happiest of mortals, for everything else in the world has no stability, but God and His word endure forever."
Now, I must tell you of two more seeds: the first is a very bad one, and so you will not be surprised to hear that it is not one of those which God has scattered in your way. No, “An enemy hath done this." Yes, the enemy, the dreadful enemy Satan, also puts seeds in your way: the word opportunity is not often to be found in scripture; only four times, I think. You have read the verse which heads this chapter, that is one of the times, that speaks of good opportunities; two others speak of bad opportunities. One, in Hebrews, shows us how ready Satan is with opportunities to tempt the children of God out of the way of God; the other is a dreadful picture of Judas, who "sought opportunity" to betray the Lord; and soon Satan gave him that opportunity. That one awful sin of Judas cannot be committed again, but Satan is still ready, when evil or foolish wishes and feelings are allowed in the heart, to give opportunities which bear dreadful and bitter fruits.
Satan takes care that his seeds shall not be too small or too ugly; they are not like the little black seeds of the Nemophila; they are more like those great purple and pink-spotted bean seeds which children often like to play with. They do not always appear as sins; often they are only trifles with which Satan tries to waste your time and fill up your heart.
With these seeds, the other little seed I am going to speak of is often smothered; this other is not a favorite seed at all; people, young and old, everywhere, are found doing all that they can to avoid it. I must call it the Lonely Hour, or Opportunity for Thinking. How few prize this seed! How many, directly they get it or even see themselves reaching it, at once begin to plan something to get rid of it, or to smother it up!
There was once an unhappy man in prison; a friend kindly went to see him and talk over his troubles. What do you think he most complained of? He had so much time to think; and I dare say thinking in a prison was very sad work indeed. But I hope you are not, like this man, quite sorry when you have time to think. You remember the little Chinese boy, Kway Chung; he was not sorry when he had time to think, and you need not wait until you are sick and dying to think the same sweet thought that made him smile. Many other bright and pleasant thoughts may pass through your mind, of things you have read, or heard, or seen; and of kind friends whom you know. Children are not generally fond of thinking, neither is much thinking quite a child's work; and God, who knows the heart and the mind of a child, does not give many lonely hours to children in general; but He does send some, and they are precious seeds—oh! most precious seeds. How many hundreds of people have praised God for this opportunity—A Lonely Hour! Indeed, few will be among, the countless multitude above who have not, at some, time, owed some precious thing to a lonely hour. The little maid must have had this opportunity and used it well. I dare say you too have had it, and will have it again. Satan hates this lonely hour because it is such a precious seed. Oh, don't let him rob you of its preciousness! Don't fill it up directly with one of the big, bright bean seeds.
If ever you feel lonely, don't look about directly and say, What shall I do? Don't fill up the lonely time with fretfulness or with foolishness. Think what precious words Nicodemus heard in the lonely night, alone with Jesus.
What precious fruit came of that lonely hour beside the well at Sychar, when the disciples were away, and Jesus talked long with the woman!
I have told you of some great opportunities, and the precious blossoms that may grow from them, but the great things are never to make us overlook the little things. If you keep your eyes and your ears and your heart open, you may gather, and perhaps may give, something every day, it might be only a little help to a tired or needy person, or kind care of a younger brother or sister; perhaps, only some crumbs to a hungry bird, but every little seed will bear, if nursed, its own little blossom.
Some seeds all can certainly nurse.
But I must tell you a story of an unused opportunity; and why was it unused?
A seed may be in the hand, and the one who holds it may find he cannot nurse it.
There was once an Englishman, staying at a city in Persia, called Shiraz: the Persians, to do him honor, invited him to a grand dinner, and he went. Among the guests was one who took little part in the conversation, and once, when the Englishman said something wrong and foolish, this silent Persian, whose name was Mahomed Rahem, fixed his eyes upon him with a look of surprise, reproof, and sorrow, which touched his very heart.
After the dinner, the Englishman inquired more about, the Persian whose look had so affected him. "He was educated for a priest, but he has never acted as one," was the reply; “he is very learned, and much respected, but he lives very quietly and would not have been at this dinner to-day but, hearing that an Englishman was to be present, he came, as he had a great desire to meet with a Christian."
English people, you know, as well as people of some other nations, are nearly always called Christians. The Englishman felt much sorrow and shame when he found out what Mahomed Rahem had expected of him: the poor lonely Persian, who was a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus really a Christian, though he had not the name, had come there on purpose to learn something from the Englishman, who was called a Christian; but, instead of getting help, he had had to give a reproof.
The Englishman was really sorry; perhaps he had had at home some opportunities which now rose to his mind: he went to Mahomed Rahem and began to talk with him.
Mahomed's opportunities had been few, but they had borne fruit. “Some years ago," he said,” there came to this city a young Englishman; he preached Christ with a boldness which till then had been unknown in Persia. He lived here for a year, and bore much scorn and ill-treatment from the Persian priests. I was among the number of his enemies, and several times I visited him on purpose to contradict and insult him. Every visit I paid shook my confidence in the false Persian religion, and increased my respect for the Christian: he bore our ill-treatment with such gentleness; he spoke so calmly, yet so boldly; I felt that he had the truth. But after that, shame and fear kept me from confessing the change that had been wrought in my opinions; I kept away from the Christian teacher; but at last, just as he was leaving Shiraz, I could not refrain from going to wish him good-bye. The conversation that night made a change, not in my opinions only, but in my heart.
“The Christian gave me a book; it has been my constant companion, my delightful study, my never-failing comfort."
With these words, Mahomed put into the hands of the Englishman a copy of the New Testament in Persian; on its first blank leaf was written, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth”—Henry Martyn."
The Englishman had held in his hand a precious seed an opportunity of refreshing the heart of this lonely Persian Christian. Why had he not been able to use it? I fear it was that he had not that life which alone could nurse such a seed. He had the name of Christian; he had perhaps heard more of Christ than the Persian; but there are those who have a name to live and are dead. I fear the Englishman may have been of this number: perhaps, after he saw the unused opportunity and heard the sweet story of the faithful Henry Martyn (once, like himself, a young Englishman in Persia), he sought and found the Savior. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men." There is no divine life in the soul that knows not Christ; and thus, no power to use the very most precious opportunities of doing good.
A beautiful crimson Dahlia once bloomed in a nobleman's garden: for two thousand years before, the bulb had remained without blossom. Why was this? It had been held in a hand, a human hand, but a dead hand; the cold, lifeless grasp of an Egyptian mummy. This Egyptian mummy is a picture of one who has a name to live—the precious name of Christian—but who is yet dead; who yet has not the Son, and has not life. "For this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." "He that hath. the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
Why should any be lifeless, when this incorruptible seed, the word of God, that word which by the gospel is preached unto you, is so near. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9).)
I cannot close my chapter of Opportunities without telling you about dear little Emma; not the little girl who has twice before given us a bright picture of a happy home child, but another Emma: hers was a very seedless path, yet even she had her precious opportunities. No one ever has a quite seedless path, however empty or barren his life may look; and then, we must remember, that one seed nursed will bring its blossoms, while a hundred seeds trampled on will bring no flowers at all.
Some children seem ready to pride themselves on the multitude of their seeds. How much more I know than So-and-so! I am much stronger; how much faster I can run, how much faster I can learn, how much better I can jump and climb, how many more things I have seen and heard.
Master Importance (or it might be Miss Importance, and how unlike she is to the little captive maid), but Importance always takes care to compare himself with those who have or who are less than himself. "A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him; neither will he go unto the wise.”
And now, with all these opportunities you can tell of, can you tell, or better still can any one who knows you tell, of any blossoms they have borne?
I will ask you another question, as to all you have and are. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Ah, what! Nothing. The understanding mind; the instruction which daily forms and feeds that mind; the loving hearts that think so much of you; the pleasant home; filled with so many pleasant things; the strength to do; even the power to see and to hear, as well as all the useful things brought within reach of those quick eyes and ears; all, all are gifts from the free, undeserved goodness of God; precious opportunities, to be taken and used, not to puff up self, but to glorify God. "Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up." If thou didst receive them, why dost thou glory as though thou hadst not received them? Learn love from the good things you have, not self-admiration; say, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?"
There is not one of us, little or big, but must learn one day to say with Jacob, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies."
Little Emma had nothing to boast of: she could not read, she could not understand hard things, she could not walk, she could not use either of her little, helpless hands; and yet she was not forgotten; a little sparrow falling to the ground is not unnoticed by God, and no little child is forgotten because he is poor or helpless. Emma's mother dearly loved her little helpless child, and Jesus too had loved this little one, and given Himself for her, as she was soon to learn.
Just think of the wonderful love that must be in the heart of Jesus the Savior when He could give Himself, His own precious, holy self, to die upon the cross for little, helpless, sinful children.
“How sweet is the love which we bear to each other—
The love of our father or sister or brother;
But what is such love when we think of the cross
Where Jesus for us bore unspeakable loss?
No words can the love of the Savior express,
He laid down His life that His foes He might bless;
He was borne from the cross to the sepulcher's gloom,
And arose the third day from the strong guarded tomb.
And His love, precious love, has not spent itself yet,
His own in this desert He cannot forget;
And soon, in the love of His heart He will come,
To bear them away to His glorious home."
Emma had a kind, strong cousin who went to a Bible class; and though it was more than a mile distant from the village where they lived, she carried Emma in her arms every Sunday afternoon. Little Emma loved to go; she could not understand all that was read or said, but she learned this one precious thing, that Jesus loved her, that God was her Father, and that Jesus Himself would take her one day to the bright home above: then Emma's heart was happy; there was no fretful look on her little, sick face, but a gentle expression of peace and contentment; she could not sing with the other children, but trust and love made sweet melody in her heart to the Lord. And could Emma do anything? Yes; she used to lie and see her mother working hard with little strength, and she longed to help her, and I am sure you will be surprised when you hear that Emma, with those helpless hands, so wished to help her mother that she learned to use her feet, as you would your hands, and crocheted little woolen petticoats to sell. I have seen one of these, as nice and well-made a petticoat as your cleverest fingers could produce, but I fear Emma cannot do this now, for her body is weaker and her feet less able to move, as she grows taller and bigger. But God will not forget Emma. "Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows."
“To Israel's land, when Israel sinned,
A band of Syrians came;
Took captive thence a little maid
Who knew God's holy name.
She waited on Naaman's wife,
A mighty captain he;
But, sad to tell, all cover'd o'er
With dreadful leprosy.
The little captive soon makes known
What wonders may be wrought
By God's own prophet in her land,
And begs he may be sought.
Naaman left his native land,
Commended by his lord,
And carried in his leprous hand
A present and reward.
With horses and with chariot grand,
The warrior soon is seen
Before Elisha's door to stand,
With high and haughty mien.
‘Go, wash in Jordan, and be clean,'
The prophet's message given:
But this ill suits the warrior's mind,
His chariot back is driven.
The servants now draw near and say,
In words both wise and kind-
'If some great thing thou hadst to do,
Would'st thou have been behind?'
Naaman listens to their words,
Is now at Jordan seen,
Seven times he dips beneath the waves;
Behold he is made clean."