Flooded With Gods Mercy

Psalm 32:1-5

1 Corinthians 15:58

David Flood was a young Swede who committed his life to Jesus. He and his wife Svea felt called to serve the Lord in Africa and arrived there in 1921 with their young son. The work was hard, the conditions were horrible, and the people were hostile and unresponsive.

While there, Svea gave birth to a baby girl. Shortly after Aggie was born, Svea died. David, already consumed by doubts and discouragement, was devastated. All he and his wife had to show for their efforts was one convert, a young boy. So David left Africa, taking his son with him, but leaving his infant daughter behind with another missionary couple.

A short while later the missionary couple died. Aggie was passed on to another couple. American missionaries, who then raised her in the United States. In the meantime, David, living in Sweden, turned his back on the faith. A second marriage dissolved and he began living with a mistress. During those days, he thought little of the daughter he had left behind. But Aggie thought of him. When she learned about the work he and her mother had begun in Africa, she desperately wanted to talk with him about it.

Years later, she traveled to Sweden. When she found her 73"year-old bedridden father living in a shabby apartment littered with liquor bottles, she told him she loved him and that God loved him too.

And then she told him about his one convert. The little boy had grown up to be a gifted leader. He led hundreds to Jesus and helped establish the church in that part of Africa. On hearing what God had done, David threw himself on God's mercy and asked Him to forgive him for all his years of rebellion. After nearly 40 years of misery living apart from God, David Flood repented and finished the race. And though he had just a few months to live, he finished strong.

If God can do that for someone like David, He can do it for you. It's never too late to get back on course and pursue Jesus with your whole heart.

Steve Farrar