PRAYER IN EXTREMITY, AND THE MESSENGER OF DELIVERANCE
By Uriah Smith
IN an article under the title, "God's Hand as I Saw It in Arabia," Mr. John Van Ess, a missionary, tells how deliverance came to him at a moment of peril as he called on God for help. It was in the year 1910. The tribesmen of the Mesopotamian border, by the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, were in conflict with the Turkish forces. All was tumult and violence in the district. In journeying from Bagdad to his mission station at Nasiriyeh, southward on the Euphrates, Mr. Van Ess found himself in the hands of men evidently intent on killing and robbing him. They wanted him to push on out of their village, but he had insisted on resting for a time in a hut, with the tribesmen waiting outside. He says:12 "My cook, who was an Arab, had in the meantime been sitting outside of the hut hearing the conversation among the tribesmen. Partly to give him something to eat, and mostly to hear what he had heard, I called him in. He understood the situation at once, and sat with his back to the door. Then he broke off a piece of the bread, and as he raised it to his mouth, he whispered, 'By no means leave the hut, for they have planned to shoot us.' Toward three o'clock in the afternoon, they became impatient at our stubbornness, and one of their number began to insult me, and this was a signal for the rest. In my extremity, I lifted my heart to God, and asked Him to show His face. "Scarcely had the petition left my heart when a shadow darkened the doorway, and a tall Arab, with face closely muffled, entered the hut. He was a member of the tribe, and a man of some consequence, judging by the respect paid him. He at once spied me sitting in the corner, looked me over a minute or two, and then came forward and said: 'Salaam Sahib, I am glad to see you here.' "I must have looked puzzled, for he unmuffled his face, and said: 'I was a patient in your hospital at Busrah two years ago. Your doctor there performed an operation on me, and I was a guest in your hospital for thirty days. Welcome to our camp.' Then he began to tell the Arabs of our work at Busrah, and of how he was fed and nursed and healed. He added: 'O Arabs, do these men no harm. They and their companions are disciples of Isa el Messiah. They fear Allah and are our best friends.' "A deep silence fell on those assembled, and I thanked God for His great deliverance. Then I told them I wanted to reach Nasiriyeh if possible before sunset. Mohammed at once took his rifle and cartridge belt; and with him and five other Arabs, we rode until we reached a ditch about half a mile outside of Nasiriyeh. They dared not enter, for fear of the soldiers, but said they would hide in a ditch, and see that I reached the Turkish line in safety. Just as I turned the corner to enter the town, I looked back, and there stood those six Arabs, faithful to their word. They waved their rifles in farewell, and thus I rode into the town and into safety."—Missionary Review of the World, October, 1913. No wonder the missionary says that he saw God's hand in Arabia. In many perils on this journey described, he was sensible of the Lord's protecting care over him; but of the crisis in the experience he could truly say with the psalmist, "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me."