Morning, September 7, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.” — Mark 2:4

 

Faith is full of inventiveness. The house was full, a crowd blocked the door, but faith found a way of getting to the Lord and placing the paralyzed man before him. If we cannot get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods we must use extraordinary ones. It seems, according to Luke 5:19, that roof tiles had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a fair amount of danger to those below, but where the case is very urgent we must not mind running some risks and upsetting some decorum. Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what might, faith ventured all so that her poor paralyzed charge might have his sins forgiven. Oh, that we had more daring faith among us! Cannot we, dear reader, seek it this morning for ourselves and for our fellow workers, and will we not try today to perform some gallant act for the love of souls and the glory of the Lord?

The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of human desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the four bearers of the paralyzed man: is not the Lord among us now? Have we seen his face for ourselves this morning? Have we felt his healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door, through window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all impediments, labor to bring unfortunate souls to Jesus. All methods are good and proper when faith and love are truly set on winning souls. If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for souls is not to be hindered in its efforts. O Lord, make us quick to suggest methods of reaching your poor ones sin with sick, and make us bold to carry them despite all perils.