22 Sermon Illustrations on Dependence On God

I did not come this far-nor to this place-alone, but in the presence and power of my God. The circumstances of this moment are not greater than my God. He knows them better than I do, yet He permits them. And He will overcome them-within me if I will allow Him. Mine is not to fret as though He does not know, or care, or cannot overcome. Mine is to walk on knowing that He is here. I am His by His creation, and His new birth. I am His to do with as He chooses-to bless or to use up, to serve or to simply endure. The day belongs to my Lord, and it is the only day I have to serve and glorify Him. And so I shall give all that I have and am that for this one day He shall be honored.

Henry Moorhouse, when engaged in a work that seemed to call upon him for a more than usual exercise of faith, received what seems like a most tender answer from God. His little daughter, who was a paralytic, was sitting in her chair as he entered the house with a package in his hand for his wife. Going up to her and kissing her, he asked, "Where is Mother?" "Mother is upstairs." "Well, I have a package for her." "Let me carry the package to Mother." "Why, Minnie, dear, how can you carry the package? You cannot carry yourself." With a smile on her face, Minnie said, "Oh, no, Papa; but you give me the package, and I will carry the package, and you will carry me." Taking her up in his arms, he carried her upstairs-little Minnie and the package, too. And then it came to him that this was just his position in the work in which he was engaged. He was carrying his burden, but was not God carrying him? "Cast" (Psalms 55:22). "Carry" (Isaiah 46:4).

"He that is in a journey to heaven must be provided for all weathers: for though it be sunshine when he first sets forth, a storm will overtake him before he cometh to his journey's end." Very small must be the number who have had fair weather all the way to glory: it is questionable if ever one has been so favoured. Hence we ought, every one of us, to be prepared for tempest and hurricane, or we may be found in an evil plight in the day of our calamity. The presence of God is the only universal preservative. When he is with us the sun shall not hurt us by day, nor the moon by night. God, all-sufficient, meets every contingency, seen or unseen. Faith must take her God to herself, and then prudently look forward to occasions for making test and proof of the endless uses to which the Divine presence can be turned. A man who has made ample provision for all weathers is rather glad than sorry to be driven to use what he has provided, and, even so, trials are well-nigh welcomed by the man who is fully armed against them. He feels that it would be a kind of waste to be well stored and then never have to draw upon the supply—a sort of superfluity to be fully armed and yet never to meet an enemy. Have faith in Christ and you are ready for anything, thankful for everything, afraid of nothing. "Ye are complete in him."

MAKING A NOISE BY CRYING "SILENCE."

"A crier in the court, that is often commanding silence, disturbeth the court more than they that make the noise; so, disputing with our distractions increaseth them. They are better avoided by a severe contempt." That is to say, when Satan would disturb us at our devotions by injecting blasphemous thoughts or trifling ideas, we had better keep right on, and as much as possible disregard his interruptions. As blind Bartimezeus cried all the more because officious persons sought to silence him, so should we be the more vehement in our supplications when the devil seeks to take us off from them. When he knocks let us fasten another bolt, and let him knock till he grows weary. Our business is with the Lord, and let us give our whole heart to seeking his face, for if we turn away to answer the enemy he will at once have gained his point. When he paints images on our fancy, if we steadfastly refuse to look at them he will cease from the unprofitable work, and betake himself to work upon some more foolish folk, who will turn aside from prayer to answer his vile insinuations. Let him howl as he pleases; if we do not regard him his pride will be hurt more severely than by any blow that we can aim at him. "'Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees." Therefore, let us keep to our praying, and let him keep to his tempting till he has had enough of it. "Get thee behind me, Satan" is as much attention as he deserves. Herein is wisdom, and he that hath understanding will learn from it.

After a heavy fall of rain, and when a gentle east wind was beginning to clear the sky, Gotthold walked forth into the fields, thanked his God for the fertilizing storm, and lifting his eyes to the heavens, and beholding the rolling clouds, said to himself, "My God, there go the chariots in which thou ridest forth to inspect thy fields and gardens, thy meadows, forests, and plains. Beggars are wont to run behind the chariots of the wealthy, and cry aloud for alms. To thee, O God! we are all beggars; and, when thou ridest forth on thy chariot of the clouds, we cry after thee, Give us this day our daily bread."

Human. We enter upon life weak, unconscious infants, depending every moment on other eyes to watch for us, and other hands to minister to us; while we kindle in their hearts the most powerful emotions. But not less dependent are we on our fellow-creatures for our continuance in life from the cradle to the grave. There is not a thread of clothing which covers our body, not a luxury which is placed on our table, not an article which supplies the means of labor, not one thing which is required by us as civilized beings, but involves the labors and the sacrifices of others in our behalf; while, by the same law, we cannot choose but contribute to their well-being. The cotton which the artisan weaves or wears has been cultivated by brothers beneath a tropical sun, and, possibly, beneath a tyrant's lash. The tea he drinks has been gathered for him by brothers on the unknown hillsides of distant China. A mother writes a letter to her son in some distant spot in India, and conveys it in silence to the post-office, perhaps thinking only when she may receive a reply from her boy. But how much is done before that letter reaches its destination! The hands of unknown brethren will receive it, and transmit it; rapid trains will convey it over leagues of railways; splendid steamships will sail with it; and hundreds of hands will pass it from port to port, from land to land. It is watched day and night, through calm and hurricane; and precious lives are risked to keep it in security, until, in silence and in safety, after months of travel, it is delivered from the mother's hand into the hand of her child.

— Dr. Macleod

A wanderer filled his travelling-pouch with savory meats and fruits, as his way would lead him across a wide desert. During the first few days, he journeyed through the smiling fertile fields; but, instead of plucking the fruits which Nature here offered for the refreshment of the traveller, he found it more convenient to eat of the provisions which he carried with him. He soon reached the desert. After journeying onward for a few days, his whole store of food was exhausted. He now began to wait and lament, for nowhere sprouted a blade of grass: every thing was covered with sand. After suffering for two long days the torments of hunger and of thirst, he expired.

God often lets his people reach the shore as on the planks of a shipwrecked vessel. He deprives us of the cisterns in order to make us drink out of the fountains of waters. He frequently takes away our supports, not that we may fall to the ground, but that he may himself become our rod and our staff. The embarrassments of his people are only the festive scallfoldings on which his might, his faithfulness, and his mercy celebrate their triumphs. Krummacher.

Asa was sick but of his feet, — far from the heart; yet because he sought to the physicians, not to God, he escaped not. Hezekiah was sick to die; yet because he trusted to God, not to physicians, he was restored. Means, without God, cannot help: God, without means, can, and often doth. I will use good means, not rest in them. Ep. Hall.

At a meeting held in reference to the establishment of schools

264. in the highlands and islands of Scotland, Dr. M'Leod related the following facts:—

A friend of mine happened to be in a boat, by which a poor simple-hearted man from St. Kilda was advancing, for the first time in his life, from his native rock to visit the world; and as he advanced towards the island of Mull, a world in itself in the estimation of the poor St. Kilda man, the boatmen commenced telling him the wonders he was so soon to see. They asked him about St. Kilda; they questioned him regarding all the peculiarities of that wonderful place, and rallied him not a little on his ignorance of all those great and magnificent things which were to be seen in Mull. He parried them off with great coolness and good humor; at length, a person in the boat asked him if he ever heard of God in St. Kilda. Immediately he became grave and collected. "To what land do you belong?" said he; "describe it to me." "I," said the other, "come from a place very different from your barren rock; I come from the land of flood and field, the land of wheat and barley, where nature spreads her bounty in abundance and luxuriance before us." "Is that," said the St. Kilda man, "the kind of land you come from? Ah, then, you may forget God, but a St. Kilda man never can. Elevated on his rock, suspended over a precipice, tossed on the wild ocean, he never can forget his God—he hangs continually on his arm." All were silent in the boat, and not a word more was asked him regarding his religion.

It has been wisely observed, that we require the same hand to protect us in apparent safety, as in the most imminent danger. One of the most wicked men in the neighborhood of a pious minister, from whom this account was derived, was riding near a precipice, and fell over: his horse was killed, but he escaped unhurt. Instead of thanking God for his deliverance, he refused to acknowledge his hand in it, and attributed his escape to chance. The same man was afterwards riding on a very smooth road; his horse suddenly tripped and fell, threw his rider over his head, and killed him on the spot; while the horse escaped uninjured.

The Rev. John Newton sometimes said, he had received more damage at his own door, than in all the countries he had been in abroad, for he had twice fal. len down the steps at his own door, each time spraining a knee. So much injury he had never received abroad. Such a fact shows clearly the necessity of our always living as if exposed to danger, and thus committing ourselves to the Divine protection.