Shipwreck

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.
Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.
Remember next time your little hut is burning to the ground- - it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.
SHIPWRECKED--BUT NOT LOST.
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help."
Few Lives there are upon whose page sooner or later there is not written the record of a tragedy. It may come in the loss of a friend, or a parent, or a wife or husband, or a child. It may come in the wreck of a fortune or the stranding of a worldly ambition. Some day while pursuing a peaceful voyage the cry will go forth, "Breakers ahead," and in spite of our vigilance and our prayers the stout ship will founder and we will be cast upon untrodden shores of duty and experience. It is in such emergencies as these that the Christian has resources that the man of the world knows not of. Unlike Crusoe he does not turn his desperate gaze toward the halfsunken ship if perchance he may regain some of its stores. He recalls rather those sweet promises of God which await redemption in the hour of need. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." He remembers that and forthwith in the midst of his extreme peril and helplessness he cries: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1-2.


Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.

Psalms 107:28.