GOD’S STRENGTH-OUR WEAKNESS

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

—Matt. 24:22

2059 His Strength Perfected Weakness

In the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Elizabeth asked her husband Robert, “O Robert, how can you love me when you are so strong and I am so weak?” He replied, “Elizabeth, my strength needs your weakness just as much as your weakness needs my strength.”

“And he said unto me, ’My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness’ “ (II Cor. 12:9).

2060 This Stammering Tongue

One day during his great mission in London, Mr. Moody was holding a meeting in a theater packed with a most select audience. Noblemen and noblewomen were there in large numbers, and a prominent member of the royal family was in the royal box.

Mr. Moody arose to read the Scripture lesson. He attempted to read Luke 4:27: “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet.” When he came to the name of Eliseus he stammered and stuttered over it. He went back to the beginning of the verse and began to read again, but when he reached the word “Eliseus” he could not get over it. He went back the third time, but again the word was too much for him. He closed the Bible with deep emotion and looked up and said, “Oh, God, use this stammering tongue to preach Christ crucified to these people.”

The power of God came upon him, and one who heard him then and had heard him often at other times said to me that he had never heard Mr. Moody pour out his soul in such a torrent of eloquence as he did then, and the whole audience was melted by the power of God.

—Sunday School Times

2061 Spurgeon’s Worse Sermon

Mr. Spurgeon once preached what in his judgment was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and floundered, and when he got through he felt that it had been a complete failure. He was greatly humiliated, and when he got home he fell on his knees and said, “Lord, God, Thou canst do something with nothing. Bless that poor sermon.”

And all through the week he uttered that prayer. He woke up in the night and prayed about it. He determined that the next Sunday he would redeem himself by preaching a great sermon. Sure enough, the next Sunday the sermon went off beautifully. At the close the people crowded about him and covered him with praise. Spurgeon went home pleased with himself, and that night he slept like a baby. But he said to himself, “I’ll watch the results of those two sermons.” What were they?

From the one that has seemed a failure he was able to trace forty-one conversions. And from that magnificent sermon he was unable to discover that a single soul was saved. The Spirit of God used the one and did not use the other. We can do nothing without the Spirit who helps our infirmities.

—Christian Digest

2062 Tennat’s “Dumb” Sermon

The Rev. William Tennat, of New England, once took much pain to prepare a sermon to convince a celebrated infidel of the truth of Christianity. But in attempting to deliver this labored discourse he was so confused as to be compelled to stop and close the service by prayer. This unexpected failure in one who had so often astonished the unbeliever with the force of his eloquence, led the infidel to reflect that Mr. Tennat had been at other times aided by a Divine power.

This reflection proved the means of his conversion. God accomplished by silence what his servant wished to do by persuasive preaching. Mr. Tennat afterwards used to say that his dumb sermon was one of the most profitable sermons that he had ever delivered.

2063 Booth Unheeds Doctor’s Advice

Before William Booth became a minister, he conducted religious services in small country places as a lay preacher. And he had the poor in his heart and work, even as a teenager. At seventeen he was made a local preacher in the Methodist church. His superintendent wanted him to become a regular preacher at the age of nineteen. But his doctor advised him against the ministry, telling Booth that his health was so poor that he was totally unfit for the strain of the preacher’s life.

That doctor had no way of knowing that Booth would eventually take on strenuous work among London’s poor, physical labor that would make the life of a Methodist minister seem like a vacation. Nor did the doctor have any way of knowing that Booth would launch an organization of worldwide proportions and that he would live to be eighty-three.

2064 God Will Make Impression

When Robert Morrison, the first missionary to go to China, disembarked from his ship in a Chinese port, the captain sneeringly said, “So you think you are going to make an impression upon China.”

Morrison quietly replied, “No, sir, but I believe God will.”

2065 God Took Enoch

One Sunday School instructor was determined to repeat “And Enoch was not, for God took him” until even the dullest student would understand it. On a review Sunday he asked the class to state exactly what was said of Enoch. One answer came back, “Enoch was not what God took him for.”

—Pastor’s Manual

2066 “O God, Help!”—Spurgeon

God’s strongest saints realize their weaknesses, and appeal to Him for strength. One Sunday morning, as Charles H. Spurgeon passed through the door back of the pulpit in the Tabernacle, and saw the great crowd of people, he was overheard saying, “O God, help!” Strong as he was, he realized that he was insufficient for so great a task as preaching the Gospel in power, unless God should be his Helper.

—A. C. Dixon

2067 Jesus And I

Dan Crawford, the successor to David Livingstone, carried a copy of the New Testament in the pocket of his jacket. At the time of his death someone found the following verses penned on the flyleaf of that well-worn Book: “I cannot do it alone! The waves dash fast and high; the fog comes chill around, and the light goes out in the sky. But I know that we two shall win in the end—Jesus and I. Coward and wayward and weak, I change with the changing sky; today so strong and brave, tomorrow too weak to fly. But He never gives up, so we two shall win—Jesus and I!”

—H. G. Bosch

2068 Pencil-In-The-Hand Illustration

One evening Lord Radstock was speaking at a meeting in Woolwich, and afterwards nearly missed his train home. He had just time to jump in as the guard blew his whistle. But a young army officer had followed him to the platform and, running up to the carriage window, said to Lord Radstock, “Sir, I heard you speak tonight, but tell me, how can a fellow keep straight?”

The train began to move. Lord Radstock pulled a pencil from his pocket and laid it on the palm of his hand. “Can that pencil stand upright?”

“No,” said the young officer.

Lord Radstock grasped the pencil in his hand, and held it up in an upright position. “Ah!” said the young fellow, moving beside the train, “but you are holding it now.”

“Yes,” said Lord Radstock,” and your life is like this pencil, helpless, but Christ is the hand that can hold you.” As the train rounded the curve and was lost to sight, the last thing the young officer saw was Lord Radstock’s outstretched hand holding that pencil upright.

Twenty-five years later the same officer met Lord Radstock in India, and told him that all those many years ago, on that railway platform, he had trusted his life to Christ, who had upheld him and kept him ever since.

—Pioneer Camper

2069 Gnome Preacher

Sometime ago a great religious leader came to our state capital to speak at the YMCA. He had a terrific reputation as an evangelist, and to entertain him his sponsors called on me and said, “Governor, would you have this man up for dinner before the evening meeting?” Of course I was delighted.

The time came, and I rushed home from my office in high expectations to meet this dynamic speaker who had made such a wonderful record for his God. Right before me was a gnome-like creature not over five feet tall, who looked like something his mother would like to forget. My face registered my disappointment. My guest looked at me and said, “Governor, isn’t it wonderful what God can use?” And so it was.

—Mrs. Paul W. Evans

2070 Best In Earthen Vessels

Rabbi Joshua, who lived in the time of the Emperor Trajan, was as ugly as he was learned and wise. So swarthly was he of complexion that he was nicknamed “The Blacksmith.” The children used to run after him in the street. Yet, his wisdom made him a special friend and a frequent visitor with the emperor.

On one visit the emperor’s daughter laughed at his unpleasant features, saying with a smile; “Rabbi, how is it that such great wisdom as yours should be contained in an ugly head?”

By way of answer the rabbi asked her: “Princess, in what vessels does your imperial father keep his wine?”

“In earthen jars,” she replied.

“Indeed,” exclaimed the rabbi, “why, all the common people keep their wine in earthen jars. The emperor should keep his in handsome vessels.”

Thinking he was in earnest, the princess hastened to have the butler transfer the royal wines into gold and silver vessels, with the result that the wine was sour when brought to the table.

The princess asked the rabbi why he had given her that advice, since he was considered so wise. “You have learned, princess, a simple lesson,” said the rabbi gravely. “Wine is best kept in common vessels: so is wisdom.”

Never again did the princess laugh at the rabbi’s unfavorable looks.

—Selected

2071 Remodelling Frederick’s Music

Several years ago a group, called the New Friends of Music, produced the first performance of Musical Masterpiece by Bach, in Town Hall, New York. There is an interesting story behind this composition.

Frederick the Great of Prussia was intensely interested in music. In different rooms of his palace he had various musical instruments. It was his ambition to compose something in the style of the master. He tried and tried, but his efforts fell far short of being worthwhile. Nevertheless, he showed one of his compositions to a friend, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Tactfully the famous composer examined the faulty composition, and then set to work remodeling it. As a result, Bach produced, with his Monarch’s efforts as a basis, what has come down to us as Musical Masterpieces. Touched by the skill of the master, the work of Frederick the amateur became worthwhile music.

—Selected

2072 Epigram On God (Our Weakness)

•     Moody used to say, “the only way to keep a broken vessel full is to keep it always under the tap.”

See also: Belief ; Perseverance ; Small Things ; Trust ; Waiting .