DIVINE INTERPOSITION by T. D. Allen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 6, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 31.

DIVINE INTERPOSITION.

By T. D. Allen

BY T. D. ALLEN.

THE subject of divine interposition is evidential in that it affords proof of the reality of God’s care for his children, and thus refutes the contentions of atheists and agnostics. So cumulative is the evidence of God’s providences that, were it possible to blot out every record in existence proving divine care and interposition, new facts would be immediately developed, and men and women would arise with fresh experiences of providential guidance and protection. There are comparatively few who deny the existence of divine watchfulness. Let the subject be brought forward in almost any company and some one or more persons will be ready to relate some incident from personal experience, or from the experiences of others with whom they are acquainted. In “The Guiding Hand,” a collection of articles illustrating the subject of providential guidance, from the pen of H. L. Hastings, of Boston, the following account is given of an occurrence that is full of comfort and inspiration to the Christian:—

A poor Christian woman in Buckinghamshire—I believe Berkhampstead—was bereaved of her husband after a long illness, and left unprovided for, the only thing of value being a large chest of tools. The husband had only just been buried, when a neighbor, bearing no good character, called on the widow, and presented a bill for work done, altogether beyond the widow’s power to pay. The work had been done in the husband’s lifetime, was paid for by him, and the bill receipted, of which the widow had a distinct recollection. It availed not for her to assert the fact. The payment of the bill was pressed again, and longing eyes cast at the chest of tools. In great distress, the widow retired upstairs to pray; for all effort to find the receipted bill was vain.

While engaged in prayer, a butterfly flew in at the open window downstairs. The widow’s little child chased it until it flew behind the chest of tools. Just then the mother came in, and the child begged her to remove the box, that he might get the butterfly. The neighbor offered at once to do so; and while he was removing it from the wall, a piece of paper fell down behind, which the widow, taking up, found to be the lost bill, receipted as she had said. She was overcome with praise and gratitude to God, who had answered her prayer by means of the butterfly, and caused even her enemy himself to discover the missing bill.