FOR three or four years Bertha had been anxious about her soul—but, at the same tithe, was full of frolic and vanity; she was quickly approaching that age when she expected to go more into society, but almost daily the thought pressed upon her, “I am not a true Christian; if I die, I shall be lost forever. O that God would send someone to show me how to be a Christian!”
Sometimes, as she laid her head upon the pillow, she would think, “If I die before morning, I shall go straight to hell!” Then, immediately, Satan would whisper this lie into her ear, this awful suggestion — “But you will be quite happy there, many of your friends will go, too.”
Satan’s aim, dear reader, is ever to make the word of God of none effect. Remember, it was the Lord Himself who said of the abode of the lost, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”; and again, in the last, solemn book of Holy Scripture, we read of the unspeakably terrible doom of him who now tries to persuade men that eternity with the lost is a mere dream.
Bertha then tried to believe that there is no God, but it was of no use; the Holy Spirit had convinced her of her, sinful condition, and would allow none of these lies to find any resting place in her heart, and again and again she would kneel down and ask God to send someone to show her how to become a Christian and not to let her grow hard and indifferent.
In her anxiety she sought help from a spiritual adviser; but he simply told her, to read her Bible—to be much in prayer adding that, in time, she might hope for a happier frame of mind, and that she was young to talk so sorrowfully. Bertha replied, in the distress of her soul, “But I am just as likely to die tomorrow as you are!”
Being thus thrown back on herself, she almost gave up seeking, and feeling conscious that her prayers were all mixed with sin, she, from this time, became more wilful and reckless. She was trying to drown the voice of conscience.
But God, in His pity, had been mindful of this troubled child, and, when she was just seventeen, He sent across her path one of His children. Bertha saw at once that her new friend was a Christian who had that blessed knowledge of salvation, which once she had so earnestly desired to possess.
She said to him, “You go into the cottages and tell the poor of these things; O! tell me, too; I want to be saved from hell.”
Ah! with what joy did that evangelist tell her of God’s love to the poor world in giving up His beloved Son to die for sinners, how that Jesus, the Lamb of God, being “delivered for our offences,” had borne the punishment due to our sins, how He had been “raised again for our justification,” and was now seated at God’s right hand, “crowned with glory and honour.” For hours she sat and listened to the story of God’s grace, all new to her, for she had never been thrown with Christians, nor had she read her Bible with understanding.
Bertha now became troubled as to how she was to believe. She heard that all was finished “long, long ago” and there was nothing for her to do; but her cry was, “How can I believe?”
Bertha’s friend read to her these texts; “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14, 1514And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14‑15).) “And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived,” (Num. 21:99And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:9).) explaining that the brazen serpent was put upon a pole, so that all who felt their wounds and knew their need of healing had but to turn away from themselves and look at the serpent, and that as many as did so were made whole. “In the same way,” he said, “any poor sinner, weighed down with the burden of his sins, has but to turn from his feelings or strivings and look at Christ for He Himself said, ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.’ It is only a look—a look is sufficient.”
These words, so simply spoken, were used by the Spirit of God to set Bertha free. It had seemed so difficult to her to believe, but she thought, “I can look: Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief”; and at once, the heavy, heavy burden was gone.
Her joy was so great that she hardly closed her eyes that night. That which filled her heart with deepest wonder was the thought that God should save her. Had He saved anyone else she would not have been surprised, but that she should be saved, just as she was, without doing anything, this was what she could not understand; she could only lift her heart in praise to Him.
Bertha now lives to bless God that He had mercy on her and saved her before the world had secured a tighter hold on her heart, and she now not only joys in her salvation from hell, but in a measure she is able to “joy in God,” and in the Lord who has brought her to Himself.
Dear reader, how is it with you? Are you anxious? Are you longing to be saved? Your anxiety and fears will be gone when you believe what God tells you about His Son. There is joy and peace in believing.
ML 02/24/1918