Lesson 3: Help for the Needy Soul

Who will read the words of this study I cannot tell, but I send it out with the prayer that it may prove a timely message to many a needy soul.

If you are just as troubled as that young man in the last lesson, and should by divine purpose read this at any time, I trust that you will see that it is the Lord's own way of seeking to draw you to Himself, and that you will read it carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully, looking up each passage referred to in your own Bible, if you have one, and that so you, too, may obtain full assurance.

Be certain of this: God is deeply concerned about you. He longs to give you the knowledge of His salvation. It is no mere accident that these words have come to your attention. He put it on my heart to write them. He would have you read them. They may prove to be His own message to your troubled soul. God's ways are varied. "He works all things according to the counsel of His own will."

One afternoon I was walking the busy streets of a large city, looking for a barber shop. Entering the first one I saw, I was soon seated in the chair, and the artist began operations. He was chatty but subdued, Praying for an opening, it soon seemed a fitting time to ask, “Are you acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ?" To my astonishment, the barber's reaction was remarkable. He stopped his work, burst into uncontrollable weeping, and when the outburst had passed, exclaimed, "How strange that you should ask me about Him! In all my life I never had a man ask me that before. And I have been thinking of Him nearly all the time for the last three days. What can you tell me about Him?"


I asked him what had led up to this. He explained that he had gone to see a picture of the Passion Play, and that it had made a great impression on his mind. He kept asking, "Why did that good Man have to suffer so? Why did God let Him die like that?" He had never heard the gospel in his life, so I spent an hour with him opening up the story of the Cross. We prayed together and he declared that all was now plain, and he trusted the Savior for himself.

To me it was an unusual instance of divine sovereignty. The very idea of the Passion Play - sinful men endeavoring to portray the life, death and resurrection of Jesus - was distasteful to me. But God, who delights not in the death of the sinner, but desires that all should turn to Him and live, used that very picture to arouse this man and so make him ready to hear the gospel. And I could not doubt that He had directed my steps to that particular shop, that I might have the joy of pointing the anxious barber to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

 Thought Question:
 Have you ever, out of routine, asked a question that God has used in a mighty way, in such a way that you knew it was not you but the Lord? 
What does that make you want to do?