THE CHILDREN'S CONFIDENCE

A young girl was earnestly seeking to be sure of the eternal safety of her soul and to have peace with God. She confided to an older friend that in spite of many sincere and anxious prayers and desires after salvation she really felt no different from before about the matter. After a pause her friend asked if she had ever learned to float in the sea. Strange to say she had just done so and she explained how at first she could not lie still on the water but each time began to struggle and as often began to sink. She could not at first believe that the water could hold her up without some effort of her own. But she had at last learned that she must just recline in confidence on the surface of the water. How much more could she rest her priceless soul on the unchanging word of God than her equally precious body on the changeable sea! Thus she learned to "Fear not; only believe".

There is always a responsibility on every child who receives God's gospel to obey His word and accept the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and His work. You must repent and believe in the glad tidings; you must have faith in God and not just about Him; you must in love be subject to Jesus as Lord. Thankfully God Himself is the source of the grace for all this - and much more! However, efforts to obtain salvation and blessing by such means as trying to keep Israel's law, or by works of self-denial, really only lead to disappointment. Valuable experience of self as these may be, yet they result in the soul being still in the distress of uncertainty just like the young girl battling with the very water which should be her source of confidence.

You will easily find in Scripture the words "Fear not: stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah". Children of all ages were amongst the frightened people of Israel standing by the Red Sea with agelong enemies marching up behind them and what seemed an impassable barrier before them. How full of wonder they must have been when the wind in their faces became so strong that it parted the sea before them so that they could go right across on dry ground to safety! How they all praised God! Miriam, an honoured saint who long before had protected the babe Moses, was now in her nineties giving a lead in music and dancing and in praising the Lord. However young - or old - you may be do you know and sing redemption's song?

J.C.Evershed