A SERVANT of the Lord was preaching the gospel in Spain. One day he entered into conversation with a man whom he had just met, about his soul. The man made the bold statement, that “he did not believe there was a God.”
“Indeed,” said the preacher quietly. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”
“If I could see Him, I would believe in Him,” said the man.
“You cannot see the wind,” replied the preacher, “but I suppose you believe in that.”
“Why, yes,” he answered again, “I can feel the effects of the wind; of course I believe in it.”
“And do you know,” questioned the preacher, “that God could make you feel the effects of what He does? He could send enough wind to blow you off your little cart.”
The man, who earned his living by going round the neighboring villages with a little cart, was silenced and went away little thinking, I expect, that God would send His wind to stop him in his infidel career.
The poor Spaniard of whom I write was convinced of this in a remarkable way. The preacher had almost forgotten the incident when one day he was accosted by a man who asked if he did not remember him. “No,” he answered.
“Do you not remember some time ago telling a poor infidel that God could send enough wind to blow him off his cart? I am that man. Very soon after speaking to you I was blown off my cart, and my arm badly injured by the fall, and I have been laid up almost ever since; I do not doubt now that there is a God.”
These words recalled the circumstance to the preacher’s memory, and he questioned the man as to his state of soul, and persuaded him to attend the gospel meetings nearby. At first he seemed ashamed to be seen in such a place, but very soon the Lord Jesus spoke to his heart in grace and he became a rejoicing believer in Him.
After that he went his round with his little cart like the Apostle Paul in another day, “preaching the faith which he once destroyed” and the people who once knew him as a godless scoffer, now knew him as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is such a solemn thing to turn away from the voice of God, and to shut your ears to it. His word says, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.” Heb. 12:2525See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25).
ML-06/03/1962