A Sure Helper In Trouble.


IF you are ever placed in great straits and

difficulties, there is no remedy for it like

prayer. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble,

and I will answer thee."

A poor man was once so reduced that he

had no food for his family. The children

went weeping to bed, and the half-famished

mother wept over them, until she, too, was

exhausted, and fell asleep. The poor father

looked with anguish on his sleeping ones, and

then went out into the bright moonlight, to

talk alone with God. He walked on to a retired

place, where he had often gone to pray.

Here those words in Habakkuk came into his

mind:

"Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,

neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor

of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall

yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from

the fold, and there shall be no herd in the

stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will

joy in the God of my salvation."

As he thought upon it, his heart was lifted

up until it was full of joy, because full of

God's presence. He almost forgot that he

was poor and hungry, in praying for more and

more of this presence of Christ in the heart.

He walked home at last, full of joy and the

sweetest peace. What do you think he found

on entering his poor home? Right there by

the bedside, on a wooden bench, was laid  

food and a very large loaf of bread! 

Oh! don't you think he felt as if

God had sent an angel to help him? He

gently woke his wife, and then the little ones,

and such a supper as they feasted on! It

seemed like angel's food to them.

What was still more remarkable was, that

God had so influenced the heart of a very

miserly old man, to call up his servant in the

night, and bid her carry the food to this poor

man's cottage. But all hearts are in God's

hands, and he can turn them about at his own

will. He can send us help from the most unlikely

sources. So let us never fail to call

upon him in the day of trouble, and bless and

thank him for the mercies we still have. We

cannot be in so bad a case that we have nothing

to be thankful for.—




Child's World.