PSALM cvii. 33-43.
"He turneth ... the dry ground into water-springs." This is one of the
miracles of grace. The good Lord makes a dry experience the fountain of
blessing. I pass into an apparently waste place and I find riches of
consolation. Even in "the valley of the shadow" I come upon "green
pastures" and "still waters." I find flowers in the ruts of the hardest
roads if I am in "the way of God's commandments." God's providence is the
pioneer of every faithful pilgrim. "His blessed feet have gone before."
What I shall need is already foreseen, and foresight with the Lord means
forethought and provision. Every hour gives the loyal disciples surprises
of grace.
Let me therefore not fear when the path of duty turns into the wilderness.
The wilderness is as habitable with God as the crowded city, and in His
fellowship my bread and water are sure. The Lord has strange manna for the
children of disappointment, and He makes water to "gush forth from the
rock." Duty can lead me nowhere without Him, and His provision is abundant
both in "the thirsty desert and the dewy mead." There will be a spring at
the foot of every hill, and I shall find "lilies of peace" in the lonely
valley of humiliation.
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John Henry Jowett was born in Halifax, England in 1864. Jowett's father had arranged for him to begin working as a clerk for a lawyer in Halifax, but the encouragement of his Sunday school teacher, Mr. Dewhirst, turned Jowett's heart toward the ministry.
After theological training at Edinburgh and Oxford, Jowett assumed the pastorate of the Saint James Congregational Church. His six effective years of ministry brought him to the attention of the Carr's Lane Church in Birmingham, England, on the death of their pastor. For the next fifteen years the church grew and prospered. Their pastor's vision led them to increase their efforts to bring people to Christ. In 1917, the mayor of Birmingham said the church had changed the town with "crime and drunkenness having decreased."
Jowett came to America for the first time in 1909 to address the Northfield Conference founded by D. L. Moody. While in America he preached twice at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. The church immediately asked him to come as its pastor. Jowett refused, having received a petition, signed by more than 1,400 members of his church in England, begging him to stay. The Fifth Avenue Church called him again, and then a third time. Finally Jowett concluded that this was God's leading for his life. He assumed the pastorate in 1911.
Although his preaching style was not dynamic (he read all of his sermons), the depth of his knowledge, the clarity of his language, and the power of his life commanded respect. Attendance at the church which had dropped to 600 on Sunday morning rose to 1,500. Lines up to half a block long formed, waiting for unclaimed seats. Jowett began preparing his Sunday sermons on Tuesday, following a meticulously detailed schedule.
When G. Campbell Morgan resigned the Westminster Chapel in London in 1917, Dr. Jowett once again crossed the ocean to take a new church. This would be his final pastorate. Declining health forced him to give up preaching in 1922, and his death in 1923 took from the world one of its most gifted and dedicated preachers.