When Nicholas I became Emperor of Russia, his first task was to put down a formidable sedition among the aristocracy of his realm. Many nobles, detected in guilty plotting, and many who were simply suspected, were thrown into prison.
One nobleman who was later proved innocent, was by nature a man of fiery temper. His wrongful arrest infuriated him, and he raved like a wild animal. Day after day, brooding over his treatment, he would stamp, shrieking, through his cell. He would curse the Emperor and blaspheme God—why did He not prevent this great injustice?
No relaxation came to him save in the intervals of exhaustion that followed his fits of rage. A venerable clergyman who visited him on the ninth day of his confinement urged him to take it patiently. His advice was without effect—indeed, it was heard with sullen contempt. When he repeated to the weary man the divine words—"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," they sounded like mockery to the embittered prisoner. The aged minister went away, leaving a Bible in the cell, which he begged the prisoner to read.
As soon as the minister was gone, the angry nobleman threw the Bible into a corner. What, to him, was the word of a God who let tyrants abuse him? How could God love him to allow him to be treated so? But when the terrible loneliness of succeeding days had nearly crazed him, he caught up the volume and opened it, and his first glance fell on the 15th verse of the 50th Psalm: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee."
The text surprised and touched him. Truly this was the day of trouble for him. Would God deliver him? Should he call upon Him? But his pride resented the thought and he dropped the book.
The next day desperation drove him again to the only companion of his solitude. Its words gave rays of hope. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego called upon God and He delivered them from the burning fiery furnace; Daniel called upon God, and was delivered from the lion's den. From that time he read the Bible constantly, began to study it, and commit much of it to memory.
The entrance of God's Word gave light, exposing to him his own sins. He saw that his many offenses against God, who had only done him good, were far blacker than the Emperor's wrong to him. Yet this God had sent even His own beloved Son to die for his sins, and was now offering him forgiveness, saying that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin."
Such love won his heart! He did now call upon God in the day of trouble; and, reading with enlightened eyes, the story of the Savior's love and death totally changed him. He was suffering unjustly; but had not Christ, the Holy One, been unjustly accused, ill-treated, and slain? Beholding the meekness and patience of Christ under worse treatment than his own, vengeful rage gave way, and a deep cairn took its place. Like the persecuted Christians shut up in the Roman Catacombs, he forgave his enemies, and cursing gave place to blessing. The shadows of wrong and death vanished in the new light of grace and glory. His lonely hours, before spent in harsh thoughts and words, were now filled with praise and prayer. With humble, believing heart he did call upon God in his trouble and was marvelously delivered.
His was an unhoped-for deliverance at the last moment. When the jailor's key turned in the lock of his cell on the fateful morning, he expected the executioners to lead him to the death chamber. Instead of the officers, the Emperor himself stood before him. A conspirator's intercepted letter had established the innocence of the suspected nobleman beyond question, and the Czar made what amends he could by bestowing on him a splendid castle and a general's commission. Though many years have passed away since then, and with them the life of the almost martyred Russian, the fruit of his labors among his fellowmen, the hospital he built for the sick and friendless, still bear witness to the faithfulness of Him who says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." Psalm 50:15.
Unsaved reader, this same mighty Savior is able and ready to deliver you from the wrath to come.
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10:13.