The Helpless Hour by G. D. Ballou

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 19, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 12.

The Helpless Hour.

By G. D. Ballou

THERE comes an hour in the life of a man when a sense of his utter helplessness rolls upon him with irresistible power. It is when he is brought face to face with the fact that his probation is about to end, and that he has but a few moments more to prepare for the judgment. When he is told that his days here are numbered, what a sense of weakness sweeps over the soul. How powerless are the most mighty then.

The man of great intellect, the giant in strength, he who has untold treasure of earthly wealth, the fair and beautiful, the promising youth, the innocent babe, and the poor, the ignorant, and the wretched, alike lie prostrate. In that hour gold cannot bring deliverance. No friend can shield us from the stroke of death. Innocence and purity plead in vain. The plaintive wail of poverty and wretchedness does not avail.

Probation must end with every one. It is the hour of weakness and utter helplessness. Then how sweet the hope of the Christian who has come to realize that all he is, or hopes to be, and all that he has, belongs wholly to God. Such an one can calmly say, Thy will, O God, not mine, be done. He can confidently say, I have fought a good fight and finished my course; and with faith he can add, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The valley and shadow of death have no terrors to him, for he knows the promise of God is sure to his faithful child, eternal life in the morning of the first resurrection. What a strong consolation for those who have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us! In the hour of utter helplessness what succor and strength is his who has laid hold of the strength of Christ and made peace with him. He who has lived for Christ can unflinchingly die at any time, for he knows that his life is in the hands of God, and he trusts his blessed promises. But he who has lived for self and the world has no one to whom to flee. Refuge fails him. The things in which he trusted slip from his grasp. His cable has parted and his bark lies broken and stranded on the shores of time. Oh, thoughtless man, flee to the only refuge. Acknowledge your Creator; own your Saviour; realize whose you are; fulfill your responsibilities; return to God the fruits of that which he has so boundlessly bestowed on you. Cheerful submission to him now will beget power and strength to trust him in the hour of helplessness. He is able to do for us above all we ask or think, and he will sustain and save to the uttermost all that come unto him. Who is the wise man but he who makes the Lord his strength and the high God his refuge? G. D. BALLOU.