I CHANCED upon a sower, who was using for his work the simple but effective contrivance of a light wheelbarrow, upon which a narrow trough, some eight feet long, filled with seed, was placed. By an easy arrangement the motion of the wheel of the barrow set in motion a number of small wheels in the trough, by means of which the seed was driven through small holes, and so fell, like grains of sand through the waist of the hour glass evenly upon the soil. The sower was working upon a very large field, and his duty was to scatter the seed evenly over every portion of it. In order to enable him to do this, various flags were placed in a straight line along the field, and following this guiding line, he would accomplish a strip of the field the breadth of his trough.
“It is not easy to keep a straight line,” said I, and he readily assented, for what with the rough stones and broken soil of the field turning aside not only the wheel of his instrument but the feet of the sower, the task seemed difficult.
“It is done,” said he, “by fixing the eye upon the flags, and keeping one flag hiding exactly those which are behind it.”
“Let me try,” said I, and accordingly I tried to stick to the man’s simple rule, and to pay no attention to the roughness of the field, its sharp stones, and occasionally sinking soil. There was a strong temptation to turn the eye off the flags, and to cast glances upon the ground, but success to keep the straight line depended upon the faithfulness of the eye.
It was to preach to myself a sermon on faith that I begged the sower to let me try his instrument, and the effect of the flags on the course of my feet. And now, dear Christian reader, may this little incident be a practical illustration to you on these words, “Looking off unto Jesus.” Keep your eye upon Him, and He will keep your feet. Crooked walking and stumbling over the stones result from the error of seeking to walk aright in our own might, instead of by faith looking off unto Jesus.