DAY 124 Read 2 Samuel 20 through 22.
Today's reading: A period of turmoil follows the collapse of Absalom's rebellion as David tries to reinstate himself. One touching episode concerns a mother's undying love.
Memory gem: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Thought for today:
Norman MacLeod has told a wonderful story of what even human love will do for others. Years and years ago, a Scottish Highland widow was ordered evicted from her home because she was unable to pay the rent. With her only child--a little boy--she started to walk ten miles over the mountains to the home of a relative. Before she could get to the house a terrible snowstorm came down upon the hills. The poor woman did not reach her destination, and the next day a searching party set out. There on the high pass, where the blizzard had been the fiercest, they found her in the snow, dead and almost naked. But in a sheltered nook, they found the child, safe and well, wrapped in his mother's clothes.
Years afterward, the son of the minister who had conducted this woman's funeral went to Glasgow to preach a sermon. It was a stormy night, and the audience was small. The falling snow reminded him of the story he had often heard his father tell, and so he left his prepared sermon and told this story.
A few days later he was called to the bedside of a dying man who was a stranger to him. When he went into the room, the man seized his hand and said: "You don't know me, but I know you, and I knew your father before you. Although I have lived in this city for many years, I have never gone to church. But the other night I happened to pass your door and, hearing the singing, I stepped inside and took a back seat. There I heard the story of the widow and her son." His voice choked up, and then trembling, he continued: "I am that son! Never did I forget my mother's love, but I never saw God's love in giving Himself for me until now. It was God who made you tell that story. My mother's prayer is answered now. She did not die in vain."
Look now to Christ, our Lord, who "while we were yet sinners" loved us and gave Himself for us--dying alone on dark Calvary, for our redemption. He was forsaken, but He did not forsake us. Will you not call upon Him now?
Today's reading: A period of turmoil follows the collapse of Absalom's rebellion as David tries to reinstate himself. One touching episode concerns a mother's undying love.
Memory gem: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Thought for today:
Norman MacLeod has told a wonderful story of what even human love will do for others. Years and years ago, a Scottish Highland widow was ordered evicted from her home because she was unable to pay the rent. With her only child--a little boy--she started to walk ten miles over the mountains to the home of a relative. Before she could get to the house a terrible snowstorm came down upon the hills. The poor woman did not reach her destination, and the next day a searching party set out. There on the high pass, where the blizzard had been the fiercest, they found her in the snow, dead and almost naked. But in a sheltered nook, they found the child, safe and well, wrapped in his mother's clothes.
Years afterward, the son of the minister who had conducted this woman's funeral went to Glasgow to preach a sermon. It was a stormy night, and the audience was small. The falling snow reminded him of the story he had often heard his father tell, and so he left his prepared sermon and told this story.
A few days later he was called to the bedside of a dying man who was a stranger to him. When he went into the room, the man seized his hand and said: "You don't know me, but I know you, and I knew your father before you. Although I have lived in this city for many years, I have never gone to church. But the other night I happened to pass your door and, hearing the singing, I stepped inside and took a back seat. There I heard the story of the widow and her son." His voice choked up, and then trembling, he continued: "I am that son! Never did I forget my mother's love, but I never saw God's love in giving Himself for me until now. It was God who made you tell that story. My mother's prayer is answered now. She did not die in vain."
Look now to Christ, our Lord, who "while we were yet sinners" loved us and gave Himself for us--dying alone on dark Calvary, for our redemption. He was forsaken, but He did not forsake us. Will you not call upon Him now?
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