Sermons on Biblical CharactersChappell, Clovis Gillham
Religion
Sermons on Biblical Characters
Chappell, Clovis Gillham
Bible -- Biography; Sermons, American -- 20th century
And it is not at all difficult to go down when everybody expects you to
go down. It is a great thing to have somebody to trust you. That is a
tremendous help. As long as you feel that there is somebody who counts
on you, who believes in you, you are not without an anchor. I read the
other day of a little newsboy who was given a quarter that he might get
change. And on his way back he was run over and crushed by an auto.
And the last word he said was, "Be sure and hunt him up and give him
back the change. He trusted me." But here is a young fellow exiled,
robbed, persecuted and mistrusted. And out of this charred and ugly
material he is called upon to build a life.
And what is the result? Well, he refused to surrender. He said, "If
nobody else will believe in me I will believe in myself. Since nobody
else will help me, I will help myself. If I am to be robbed of my
inheritance I will make a way of my own." And so he set to work. He
did not spend his time hunting up his neighbors to tell them of his
misfortunes. He did not put in his time boasting of what he would do
if he were as well off as his half brothers down in Israel. He went to
work to build his fortune in the here and now. And little by little he
won.
And then one day a runner came to him in the field and said, "Jephthah,
you have company at your house." And the man looked up in surprise and
said, "Company! Who is it?" "A committee of elders from Israel." And
Jephthah is astonished. He is filled with wonder. He is trying to
guess why they came. And with the problem unsolved he goes to meet his
guests.
These elders greet him like a long lost son. They tell him how they
rejoice in his prosperity. They informed him how they had always known
that he would make good. They let him know that they would never have
sent him out of Israel if they had had their way about it. And then at
last they gather courage to tell him their errand. And they say,
"Israel is being besieged by the Ammonites and we want you to come and
be the commander-in-chief of our armies."
Well, now that was a shock. Here was a young fellow who began with
nothing, and worse than nothing. But instead of whining, instead of
quitting, instead of complaining that he had no chance, instead of
putting in his time wishing that he was somewhere else, he did his duty
where he was. And folks found it out and came to kneel at his feet and
ask him for help. And I am not saying, young man, that every man gets
his just deserts, but I do say that in the overwhelming majority of
cases, if a man is really any account, sooner or later somebody will
find it out. It may be true that
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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