So said David to Jonathan when he fled from King Saul. The king sought his life, and David realized his danger.
Reader, may it not be said of you, that there is but a step between you and death? But have you ever yet, like David, realized that such is really the case—that the brittle thread of life may snap at any moment? And what then?
Perhaps, like thousands more, you think there is no danger. Well, Nabal the Carmelite did not think there was but a step between him and death when he sent the contemptuous message to David,
"Shall I then take my bread, and my' water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?" 1 Sam. 25:1111Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? (1 Samuel 25:11). But a few days after, God smote Nabal, and he died.
Neither did the rich man, whose ground brought forth abundantly, think there was any danger when he proposed to himself in the midst of his prosperity to eat, drink and be merry. Yet, God said unto him,
But, even should your life not be immediately cut short, it is at the longest "but a vapor that appeareth for a little and then vanisheth away." James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14). O, if you have never realized your danger, be persuaded to consider it NOW.
But, if there is, on the one hand, only a step between you and death, there is—thank God—a Savior at hand. He is willing to receive you, for He has said,
"Only a step to Jesus;
Then why not take it now?
Come, and thy sin confessing,
To Him, thy Savior, bow.
Only a step to Jesus!
A step from sin to grace—
What has thy heart decided?
The moments fly apace.
Only a step to Jesus!
O, why not come and say,
Gladly to Thee, my Savior,
I give myself away?"
Awake then! awake ere it is too late! Hear the Word of the Lord,