Fire broke out one night in a block of houses. The flames raged and roared tremendously, lighting up the room of an aged invalid, whose house adjoined the burning building. She was unable to rise, or to do anything to save herself, yet there she lay, cairn and peaceful. She had asked the Lord to protect her, and she believed that He would not allow a hair of her head to perish.
Two stalwart firemen urged her to allow them to remove her from the house, as the flames were fast gaining ground, but she responded by asking them if they knew the Lord who was her Refuge. One of the two men with a smile declared that he did, but the other confessed himself a stranger to the Lord, in whom she trusted.
The aged invalid testified to him of Jesus, the Savior of the lost, and while they knelt, she prayed that the Lord might control the fury of the flames, and give the fireman and others to see that the Lord was the Answerer of prayer. The fire that moment abated; the invalid's house stood unscorched, and some who witnessed her simple faith that day, will never forget it.
The stalwart fireman wept as he told the story of the invalid lady's trust in her God that awful night.
"I never believed in a God who answers prayer before," he said, "or in a God of love, who gave His Son to die for me, but, as I looked upon that calm face, and heard those lips speak so earnestly of a Savior from wrath and consuming fire, I felt Were was a deep reality in it all. Now I can say with that dear woman,, that I know the Lord Jesus is mine: He is my Refuge and my Deliverer. I fear no wrath to come; for me, Jesus bore it, and in Him I am everlastingly secure. That invalid lady's answered prayer convinced me there was a living God; her words of warning, awakened me to my danger, and by grace I was let to the Refuge-the Lord Jesus Christ."
Reader, do you believe there is any reality in the things of God and eternity?
Do you believe in a real hell, such as God declares, awaits the Christ-less sinner? If you do, you will seek to escape it.
Do you believe in a real Christ and a real heaven? Then you will not delay to accept Him, to bring you to that holy place.
That lowly invalid, lying calm in the confidence that God was her Refuge for time and eternity, amid surrounding flames, tells what possession of a real Savior brings to the soul. Is such a confidence yours?