How well I understand the pinching straits that press you down, yet this I must say, the poor and needy have a special claim upon the heart of God. In your day-by-day living, with no home to call your own, there is a precious nearness to the Master, who had not where to lay His head. Make your business your Father’s business; cast every sale, every meeting with a customer, upon Him who cares for you. If you will but look to Him for direction, even in the simplest matter of your trade, you shall find that He can guide you to those who need your wares, and make your basket and your store to be filled. Oh, it is sweet employment to serve your Father in the very wear and tear of daily labour! Lean not upon your own understanding, nor fret about the morrow, He who keeps alive the soul has made Gospel provision for the body too, and none can keep alive his own life but by His daily gift.
Yet let me stir the deeper business within you. Your grand object in life, beyond bread and shelter, is to be about the saving of souls. When you meet a customer, you have before you an immortal spirit; you might trade in mercies even while you trade in goods. Do you not think that if you make Christ known by a word fitly spoken, your heavenly Father will not leave your own table unblessed? The Christian’s one business is to lead men to Jesus, and every other thing should be made subservient to that. I do not despise your bodily needs; the God who made the body is the God who made the soul, and He has promised bread to the eater and seed to the sower. But set your affections on the crown that fadeth not away, and trust Him to add what is needed. You have known trouble, and you have known pinching poverty; but remember Paul in his chains, who had suffered the loss of all things, yet counted them but dung that he might win Christ. The poor and needy may feel their needs multiplied, but Christ has an infinitude of fullness stored up for such as you. Go to Him for everything, pardon for the soul, peace for the conscience, and each day’s provision for the body.
Be not downcast. The Savior who stooped to bind up gaping wounds will not pass you by. He is as willing as He is able; He needs no man’s imprimatur, but comes with authority to save and supply. Do your business as unto Him, and you shall find that He who did His Father’s business in sweat and blood will not desert a child who looks to Him in simple faith. The lone star gleams for the mariner far out at sea; and so, for you in your neediness, this light shall shine, the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the expectation of the poor perish for ever. Rest in His dear love, and praise Him before you see the answer; for in the meantime, He is fitting you for something weightier than a house of stone, an eternal habitation in the heavens.