The Unseen Listener

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void. . . . It shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

Noted Quaker missionary Stephen Grellet once felt burdened to preach the gospel to the men in an American lumber camp. When he arrived, however, the camp was empty; the men had gone farther into the forest. Still believing he had been sent there to preach the gospel, he stood up and delivered his sermon to a deserted mess hall.

Years later a man stopped him and proclaimed, “I have found you at last!” Thinking there was some mistake, Grellet inquired as to how the man knew him. He explained that he had been working at the lumber camp and had returned from where the other men were to get a saw. Startled at hearing a man’s voice, he peeked through a chink of the logs and saw Grellet preaching to an empty room. He listened to the sermon, felt conviction of his sins, got hold of a Bible, was saved, and led others to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. Is God calling you to speak His Word into someone’s life?

God’s Word is powerful; whenever it is spoken, the Spirit of God will work in the hearts of seen and unseen listeners.

After awhile, the power of truth came so forcibly over them that they trembled under it, and many tears were shed.

STEPHEN GRELLET