It was a great privilege to meet a dear ex-soldier at my nephew’s house, and to learn from his own lips the story of his conversion, and I am sending it to the doctor, praying that some heart may be reached and melted.
Our friend was quite young when sent to India, and for nearly ten years lived a sinful life, without hope and without God in the world. And then God spoke to him, on his downward career, lying very ill in a hospital at Meerut, all hope given up of his recovery. One night, in his weakness, he thought he heard a voice saying to him, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow,” and his heart was troubled, and he promised God that if He would restore him to health and strength he would be a different man. From that moment the change came, to the doctor’s surprise, and he completely recovered. There was certainly a difference in his outward life, but he had not yet given his heart to tilt Lord, and known that wondrous change, “Born again.”
Returning to the barrack room, he had not the courage to confess or strength to stand against the many temptations of Army life, and soon drifted, in a measure, back to the old ways.
HOW impossible to change our lives by our own efforts! God’s power alone, by His Holy Spirit, can effect that mighty change — “a new creature” in Christ Jesus.
Some weeks later our friend was sent up into the hills, and walking through a dense jungle, he saw some very beautiful peacocks, and, without a thought of the danger, took a rifle and followed the birds some distance. Finding the chase hopeless, he tried to retrace his steps, only to realize he was lost in the jungle. In great distress, he tried several directions, but only seemed to get deeper into the forest. Darkness was coming on the jungle was teeming with wild beasts and reptiles of all kinds, and the young soldier did not expect to see another day dawn, and gave himself up for lost. It was then God spoke again to his heart, and, instead of making promises to God, he fell upon his knees, and acknowledged that he was a sinner, and yielded himself unreservedly to the Lord.
In that moment he was “born again,” and he rose from his knees, a new man in Christ Jesus, passed from death unto life. And now that voice he seemed again to hear, telling him to “go forward.” With new courage he pressed on, coming to a narrow beaten track, which he followed. It was now very dark, and at times he had to go on his hands and knees to find the track. The path led upwards, and reaching the top of the hill, to his great relief he saw a light in the valley. On reaching the spot, to his great surprise, he found it led to the village, to which he had been marching, reaching it nearly an hour before the other men of his company, who could hardly believe it was he, as they thought he must have been torn to pieces by the wild beasts of the jungle. With what joy he told his comrades of his double deliverance.
I can only add that all this happened many years ago, and our friend has been used much in the slums of London in our Lord’s service, and has today no greater joy than telling sinners of the One who saved and keeps him.
A. A. L.