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Butterfly A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could…

Had Abraham stopped in Ur of the Chaldees with his friends and rested there and enjoyed himself, where would his faith have been? He had God’s command to leave his country to go to a land that he had never seen, to sojourn there with God as a stranger, dwelling in tents, and in his obedience to that…

Devotional by David Jeremiah

Poem by Annie Johnson Flint

We are to consider Him—consider Him in His person, consider Him in His performance, His work upon the cross. Someone has put it poetically: When the storm is raging high, When the tempest rends the sky, When my eyes with tears are dim, Then, my soul, consider Him. When my plans are in the dust, When…

The ship may not need an anchor in calm waters; when upon a broad ocean a little drifting may not be a very serious matter. But there are conditions of weather in which an anchor becomes altogether essential. When a gale is rushing toward the shore, blowing great guns, and the vessel cannot hold her…

John Bunyan, in Pilgrim’s Progress, tells us that Christian, by the light of day, looked back on the Valley of the Shadow of Death, which he had passed through in the nighttime, and saw what a narrow path he had kept and what a bog there was on one side, and what a miry place on the other, and where…

One reason God has a poor people is so that He may display more the power of His comforting promises and the supports of the gospel. “There,” says the architect, “this building is strong.” Yes, but it must be tested: Let the wind blow against it. There is a lighthouse out at sea, but it is a calm night—I…

There once was a lady who wanted to hire a driver. When three applied, she had them in one by one. “Well,” said she to the first, “How near can you drive to danger?” “Madam,” said he, “I believe I could drive within a foot without fear.” “You will not do for me,” said she. To the second she said, “How…

An officer in India had tamed a leopard. From the time when it was quite a kitten he had brought it up, until it went about the house like a cat, and everybody played with it. But he was sitting in his chair one day asleep, and the leopard licked his hand—licked it in all innocence. But as he licked,…

What would you think of a man who went as near as he could to burning his house down, just to see how much fire it would stand? Or of one who cut himself with a knife to see how deep he could go without mortally wounding himself? Or of another who experimented as to how large a quantity of poison he…

I never wonder when I hear of some professing Christians giving up Christianity, for they have never experienced the joy of it. It was only a burden to them. When a poor fellow has a load on his back that does not belong to him and does not yield him any comfort but only galls his shoulders, you are…

There was once a square piece of paper put up into George Whitefield’s pulpit, by way of a notice, to this effect: “A young man who has lately inherited a large fortune requests the prayers of the congregation.” Right well was the prayer asked, for when we go up the hill we need prayer that we may be…

A child would generally stand on his feet in a gust of wind if he knew it was coming. But when the wind happens to come around a corner furiously, he may be taken off his feet. Mind you are well ballasted by prayer every morning before your vessel puts out to sea, or carrying the quantity of sail you…

There was a crest and motto that some of the old Reformers used to use, and that I commend to any of you who are under trial. It was an anvil with a number of hammers, all broken, lying around; and this was the motto when translated, “The anvil breaks many hammers.” And how does it do this? Not by striking:…

When a ship first leaves the stocks it is well for it to go on a trial trip, but to have a ship always being tried would be very absurd. It is time that it took voyages in earnest, and was registered in the merchant service; there will be trial enough in the actual execution of service. Some Christians,…

We little know how much preservation from falling we owe to our losses and crosses. The story of Sir James Thornhill painting the inside of the cupola of St. Paul’s is probably well known to you. When he had finished one of the compartments, he was stepping backward that he might get a full view of it…

I remember talking once to a lady who assured me again and again that she prayed daily for me that I might be kept humble. I told her that I would pray the same prayer for her. When she said, “Oh, I am never tempted to be proud,” I replied, “Well, dear friend, I am afraid you are very far gone in that…

The man that has seen affliction, when he is blessed of God, has the disposition to cheer those that are afflicted. I have heard speak of a lady who was out in the snow one night, and was so very cold that she cried out, “Oh, those poor people that have such a little money! How little fuel they have,…

God sometimes gives His people fresh promises by faith just before a trial is about to come upon them. It was so with Elijah. God said to him, “Go to the Wadi Kerith; I have commanded the crows to sustain you there” (1 Kings 17:4). This was at the beginning of the famine. There he stayed, and God fulfilled…

You might be the possessor of a large estate, and an adversary might contest your right to it, and you might not be able to find your title deeds. The estate might be yours clearly enough, but those deeds of yours might be mislaid and locked up in a forgotten drawer, and perhaps you might be sorely put…

In the olden time when the gospel was preached in Persia, Hamedatha, a courtier of the king, having embraced the faith, was stripped of all his offices, driven from the palace, and compelled to feed camels. This he did with great content. The king passing by one day saw his former favorite at his ignoble…

A man goes to work to make money, and after toiling hard for it he gets it and it is a consolation to him. But it is not an everlasting consolation, for he may spend or he may lose all his money. He may invest it in some company (limited or unlimited) and very soon find it vanish or he may be compelled…

Turn to Acts 12, where you have the record of Peter lying asleep in the prison, watched by soldiers. And yet at the dead of night, an angel of the Lord came into the prison, smote Peter on the side, bade him bind on his sandals and gird himself, and follow him. Peter went through all the doors of the…

New evidence is sometimes brought into court that completely changes the aspect of the case. If you have been on a jury, you would not like to tell your fellow jurors how many times you have changed your mind while you have heard the evidence. If you have listened attentively, I expect you have had half…