Sam was a wooly-headed smiley-faced native Christian who acted as a guide to the missionary.
“Ah, Suh,” said Sam, “I used to treat the Lord as if He were a poor man and had very little to give away.”
“How so?” asked the missionary.
“Well, in those days,” answered Sam, “I prayed, ‘Lord, do give me a little more faith,’ or ‘Oh, I beseech Thee, Lord, bestow on Sam rather more grace!’ And I begged and prayed for everything as if I had to drag it away from Him. Then a white man came to preach at Lagos, and he described how great the Lord was and what His riches in glory must be.
“As I sat under a tree that night I said to myself, ‘Sam, you’ve been praying as if the Lord owned only a small sago palm, and as if His heart was as hard as the shell of a coconut; when all the time every beast in the forest is His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. His heart is like the great sun that warms and gladdens us all, and He is full of love to both poor saints and sinners.’ "
“Well,” said the missionary, “what did you do after that?”
“Oh, suh,” was Sam’s glad reply, his dusky face all aglow with joy, “I just acted on what I had found out. I said, ‘Lord, Ise very poor and quite empty of grace and patience and all them beautiful things. But Thou art very rich. Give this poor sinner according to Your great heart and great supply.’ "
“And I know He answered you, Sam,” said the missionary, remembering with thankfulness how God was blessing Sam’s simple faithful testimony to his fellows.
“Suh,” answered Sam, “the Lord jus’ weighs me down with a load of all the good things that He gives, and He seems to be saying to me all the time: ‘Use this, Sam; I’ve a lot more I want to give you.’ O, suh, life has been a different thing to me since that time. You see, I’m never afraid of asking too much, for I know He loves to give it.”
ML-12/05/1976