DAY 102 Read 1 Samuel 12 through 14.
Today's reading: Israel's first king, Saul, soon brings trouble upon himself by his headstrong impatience. First he acts as priest when Samuel does not appear as scheduled; then he almost executes his own son because of a rash vow.
Memory gem: "God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way" (1 Samuel 12:23).
Thought for today:
Do you know, Christian friends, that we are actually sinning against God if we do not pray for one another?
How often wandering boys are held back from ruin by mothers' prayers. Dr. James McCosh, president of Princeton, had the custom of praying with members of the senior class before he bade them good-bye when they went out into the world. But a certain young graduate said to him, "I don't believe in God or prayer." The president was surprised and hurt, but he shook hands with the young man and wished him success.
Some years later, when Dr. McCosh was delivering a series of lectures in Cincinnati, a man came to him and said, "What is this I hear, Dr. McCosh, about your turning out infidels at Princeton?" Dr. McCosh was surprised and asked what he meant. The man gave the history of this student who had refused to pray with the doctor, saying that he had advanced to an important post in the schools of Cincinnati and was sowing the seeds of unbelief and infidelity everywhere. "But," the man added, "he has a holy, praying mother, and I believe that in the end she will win."
A year or two later Dr. McCosh was in his study in Princeton one day when a young man and his wife came to see him. The man said: "You don't remember me, but I am the student who refused to pray with you. I thought I was an unbeliever, and everywhere I went I spread unbelief. But all the time my mother was praying for me. Her prayers have won at last, and here I am to enter the seminary and prepare for the ministry. Before I go I want you to kneel down with me and my wife and offer that long-postponed prayer." Like thousands of others, he could say, "And though I wandered far away, my mother's prayers have followed me the whole world through."
Today's reading: Israel's first king, Saul, soon brings trouble upon himself by his headstrong impatience. First he acts as priest when Samuel does not appear as scheduled; then he almost executes his own son because of a rash vow.
Memory gem: "God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way" (1 Samuel 12:23).
Thought for today:
Do you know, Christian friends, that we are actually sinning against God if we do not pray for one another?
How often wandering boys are held back from ruin by mothers' prayers. Dr. James McCosh, president of Princeton, had the custom of praying with members of the senior class before he bade them good-bye when they went out into the world. But a certain young graduate said to him, "I don't believe in God or prayer." The president was surprised and hurt, but he shook hands with the young man and wished him success.
Some years later, when Dr. McCosh was delivering a series of lectures in Cincinnati, a man came to him and said, "What is this I hear, Dr. McCosh, about your turning out infidels at Princeton?" Dr. McCosh was surprised and asked what he meant. The man gave the history of this student who had refused to pray with the doctor, saying that he had advanced to an important post in the schools of Cincinnati and was sowing the seeds of unbelief and infidelity everywhere. "But," the man added, "he has a holy, praying mother, and I believe that in the end she will win."
A year or two later Dr. McCosh was in his study in Princeton one day when a young man and his wife came to see him. The man said: "You don't remember me, but I am the student who refused to pray with you. I thought I was an unbeliever, and everywhere I went I spread unbelief. But all the time my mother was praying for me. Her prayers have won at last, and here I am to enter the seminary and prepare for the ministry. Before I go I want you to kneel down with me and my wife and offer that long-postponed prayer." Like thousands of others, he could say, "And though I wandered far away, my mother's prayers have followed me the whole world through."
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