Hard stubborn ground must yield to the heavy tillage tools and harrows before it becomes "good ground" for seeding— as every farmer knows.
A divinely prepared heart is seen in the publican of Luke 18. We are not told what exercises of conscience he went through before going into the temple: "And standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."
In recent times the convicting power of the Holy Spirit was seen in the case of a Scotch boy named Robert. Although one of a religious family, much to the surprise of his parents he became deeply troubled about his sins. Realizing that he was lost, the boy looked for someone to show him the way of salvation; but in vain. His father was of no help; he could not comprehend why one brought up as his son had been should think himself a lost sinner.
Finally the boy went to the pastor and told him his fears. But the pastor told him he should banish his gloomy thoughts and set his mind on bright and happy things.
Since Robert was of a musical bent, the pastor suggested to his father that he buy his boy a violin and have him take lessons. This the father did.
But although Robert tried to forget his "gloomy surmisings" and resolutely set himself to learn the violin, he at last gave up in despair saying, "I cannot fiddle when I am lost in my sins and may die any moment and go to hell, because I cannot find how to be saved!"
Eventually the family doctor was consulted. After a careful examination he concluded that Robert's mind was endangered by chronic depression and prescribed a series of treatments in a sanitarium for psychiatric cases.
To such an institution poor Robert was sent. There for weeks he paced the floor of his little room while he exclaimed: "Oh that I knew how to get rid of my sins!"
Eventually a Christian lady came to the hospital to visit a friend who had suffered a nervous breakdown. Passing by Robert's room she heard his lament, and wondered if his case might not be that of conviction of sins rather than of a mental disorder.
Having secured permission to speak to the boy, she listened to his story; then pointed him to Christ. She left him with a New Testament, marking several verses which she asked him to read with care.
While Robert pondered these passages, all of which told of Christ's finished work upon the cross, and His precious blood that cleanseth from all sin, light from God shone into his dark soul. He believed and was soon rejoicing in God's great salvation.
A complete change in his behavior followed immediately. The attending physicians decided that their patient had responded to treatment and was cured. Accordingly, they notified the father that his son might safely be taken home.
His brother called for him and was delighted to find him so calm and happy. At home, in reply to his father's questions, Robert replied, "Yes, father, I am all right now, for my sins are all gone and my soul is saved."
His father, supposing that his boy had been delivered from all such thoughts was shocked. He called for the pastor and told him that Robert must have suffered a relapse.
When the pastor arrived at the home, Robert greeted him gravely with these words: "Pastor, why did you set me trying to fiddle away my sins? Why did you not tell me of the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sins? What the fiddling could not do, the Lord has done."
The embarrassed pastor realized that God had wrought in the young man's soul, and that Robert was indeed "born again." So he assured his father that he need have no more fears over his son's mentality.
As time went on, all around knew that Robert had indeed "passed from death unto life," and many were won to Christ by his testimony.
Not all the gold of all the world,
And all its wealth combined,
Could give relief, or comfort yield,
To one distracted mind;
'Tis only to the precious blood
Of Christ the soul can fly,
There only can a sinner find
A flowing full supply.
O what can equal joy divine,
And what can sweeter be
Than knowing that this Christ is mine
To all eternity?
Safe in the Lord, without a doubt,
By virtue of the blood;
For nothing can destroy the life
That's hid with Christ in God.