A penitentiary convict had been converted, and was released
from prison in Chicago. He found it impossible to get work. He
woke in the night, and arose and prayed for help. He prayed
till daylight, crying in agony, “Oh, God, give a poor fellow
a chance!” Then he drest and went out again to hunt work.
Presently he heard a cry and saw a runaway horse coming down
toward him. He snatched up a cracker-box and smashed it on the
horse’s face. Then he seized the bridle and stopt him, tho he
was dragged some distance; and in the crowd gathering about him
was the father of the children in the carriage, and he was the
man God sent to “give the poor fellow a chance.”--FRANKLIN
NOBLE, “Sermons in Illustration.”
(2444)
* * * * *
Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. How many
of us really expect an answer to our prayers? How many of us
wait for God as they who wait on the morning? Yet it is this
expectant attitude of the soul resting upon the divine promise
that triumphs over hindrances. There is an example of this in
the life of Charles Kingsley. When a young man, he had become
engaged to a beautiful girl to whom he had given his whole love.
But her parents deemed him an unsuitable match, and they forbade
absolutely all communication between the two young people for
two years, which were to Kingsley the darkest and most terrible
in his life. But in his diary he tells us that during that
period he lived on one verse, Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto
you what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Before the two years
were over, Kingsley’s prayer was answered, and the girl became
his wife.--DONALD SAGE MACKAY, “The Religion of the
Threshold,” page 296.
(2445)