“I am glad you have come today; Alice was wishing so much to see you,” and as the mother spoke, she placed a chair for me close by the bedside of the sick girl I had come to see.
A glance at the invalid told me that she was sinking fast.
“And why were you wishing so much to see we today, Alice?” I asked, as I took the offered hand.
“I’m afraid maybe I’m not trusting right...”
“Who is it you are trusting, Alice dear?” I asked.
“Jesus,” she said.
“Well, He does not tell you to trust Him right, but only to trust Him, and none perish that trust Him. To trust is just to leave all to Him, and nothing to yourself. Don’t you remember, Alice, the last day I was in, we spoke together of the preciousness of the blood which cleanseth from all sin, and how you rested upon that?”
“Yes, but—but the evil thoughts come yet.” she replied.
“Well, Satan can and does trouble us, causing us to doubt and fear when he gets us to look into ourselves, instead of just looking straight off to Jesus, and keep looking. But, Alice, there is one thing which Satan knows well that he cannot do, and that is, he cannot take a single one of those who have really trusted in the Lord Jesus out of His hand; even the feeblest is just as safe as the strongest, when they are in His hand, for He has said: “‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.’ John 10:27-3027My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30I and my Father are one. (John 10:27‑30). Surely that is quite true, Alice, is it not?”
A look of rest came into the clear girl’s face, and she lay quite still for a little while, and then the shadows came back again.
“What troubles you now, dear?” I asked gently.
“When I pray to Him,” she said, “I cannot get just the right words which I would like.”
“But the Lord Jesus does not tell you to pray with ‘right’ words, Alice. He said, ‘All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive?’ Indeed, He prays for you. Listen to what is written in His Word, ‘Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.’ Hebrews 7:2525Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25). You know already what fie has done for you when on the cross—He took your place and bore your punishment; but think what He is doing for you now in the glory. ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for you.’ What else do you need?”
Rest, peace and joy filled her heart. The entrance of God’s word had given light. Satan had done his utmost to cause her to be occupied with herself, her trust, her thoughts, her prayers, but she saw now that nothing depended upon her, but that Christ was all and in all. We thanked Him together for His matchless love and grace.
Perhaps this simple account will meet the eye of some doubting one, who, like Alice, is troubled as to whether you have the right kind of trust. Why think of yourself at all? Look away from yourself and all that you are, unto Him who suffered, bled and died for you here, and now lives for you in the glory above.
You will never find comfort or rest of heart in looking at yourself, or in looking around upon others, but O, what rest, peace and joy you will find in “looking unto Jesus!” As you do so, you will be enabled to live for Him and to Him. Once you were lost from Him; now you are to be lost in Him; that is, letting yourself sink out of sight in His abundant fullness, finding Christ all in all.
Then doubt no more, dear young reader, but trust Him only, trust Him fully, and be enabled to run with patience the race set before you— “looking unto Jesus.”
“Jesus, the One who knew no sin,
Made sin to make us just;
Thou gav’st Thyself our love to win,
Our full, confiding trust.”