Daniel Whittle shares about a prominent business man who failed in the Spring of 1877. He had been for years a prominent and consistent member of a Christian church. He had even supported a church once almost entirely. Nothing was known against his character, but he failed; he failed in business. No one knew the reason why, but there it was, failure.
At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, he unbosomed himself to his pastor, and said, “Long ago I promised to give the Lord one-tenth of all the profits I gained from my business, and while I did so, I was immensely prosperous and successful; never did any one have any such splendid success,–but I forgot my promise, stopped giving, thought that I did not need to spend so much, and I began to invest my means in real estate. When I stopped giving I stopped getting. Now all is gone. I lost my all because I did not keep my promise to the Lord.”
This incident is a practical one, telling how utter is the impossibility of true success, without the aid of the Lord, and how absolutely necessary it is to our own peace and comfort of mind to religiously observe one’s promises made to God. The Bible only too truly tells of the end of those who forget Him.
But Jeshurun waxed fat… then he forsook God which made him…
And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them….And he said, I will hide my face from themDeuteronomy 32:15, 19, 20
…ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.
2 Chronicles 24:20
…There shall be desolation 10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength…
Isaiah 17:9-10
