"FOOTPRINTS" ...in the Sand

by C. H. SPURGEON

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28  

JOB 23:11-12 "My foot," he saith, "hath held his steps" — he means that he had laboured to be exact in his obedience towards God, and in his imitation of the divine character. Beloved, we shall do well if we are to the minutest point hourly observant of the precepts and example of God in all things. We must follow not only the right road, but his footprints in that road. We are to be obedient to our heavenly Father not only in some things, but in all things: not in some place but in all places, abroad and at home, in business and in devotion, in the words of our lips and in the thoughts of our hearts. There is no holy walking without careful watching. Depend upon it, no man was ever good by chance, nor did anyone ever become like the Lord Jesus by a happy accident. We must give all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength to this business, and watch every step, or else our walk will not be close with God, nor pleasing in his sight. O to be able to say, "My foot hath held his steps."

They say of a man who closely imitates his religious teacher, "his feet have laid hold of his master's steps," meaning that he so closely follows his teacher that he seems to take hold of his heels. This is a blessed thing indeed, when grace enables us to follow our Lord closely. There is his foot, and close behind it is ours; and there again he takes another step, and we plant our feet where he has planted his. Oh, when we come to die, and have to look back upon our lives, it will be a blessed thing to have followed the Lord fully. Many a sorrow will you avoid if you keep close at your Master's heel.

— Excerpted from C. H. Spurgeon's sermon #1526 "The Fair Portrait of a Saint"

Published in MTP Vol 26, Year 1880, pgs. 147-148, and 149 Job 23:11-12

Introduction by Michael Ross (January 2002) —

Admirers of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) have so enjoyed reading his powerful sermons since they were first published in London, England, beginning in the year 1855. Only in our future and glorious eternal life will anyone know just how great the INFLUENCE of these sermons has been on souls worldwide. Recently, I have been made to wonder if one of Spurgeon's sermons might not have inspired the famous "Footprints" poem, which is so often seen on bookmarks, cards, posters, and plaques.

The original author of "FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND" has long been thought anonymous, although lately it's been of considerable speculation that a woman named Mary Stevenson wrote it between 1936 and 1939. She was born on November 8, 1922, and died on January 6, 1999, according to various websites on the Internet. This site has regular updates on the probability that Stevenson is the original author, along with various other later versions presented (from the 1960s) —>  www.wowzone.com/fpnews.htm - also - www.christianweek.org/stories/vol14/no09/angles.html

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We also recommend visiting Mary Stevenson son's

official "Footprints In the Sand" website...

—>  www.footprints-inthe-sand.com

After reading the poem's text below, we have presented brief portions from two different Spurgeon sermons. The phrases spoken by Spurgeon in the first quote are remarkably similar with the idea and comforting words of the "Footprints" poem. Is there a connection with the poem's creation and of the author being influenced and inspired by a Spurgeon sermon?

"Footprints In The Sand" is written as follows —    

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there was one only.

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This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints,

so I said to the Lord,

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"You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life,

there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?"

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The Lord replied,

"The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child,

is when I carried you."

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— written by Mary Stevenson (Zangare)

[used with permission of Basil Zangare Jr.]

{see *Note on Copyright below}

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C. H. SPURGEON:  Were you ever in a new trouble, one which was so strange that you felt that a similar trial had never happened to you, and, moreover you dreamt that such a temptation had never assailed anybody else? I should not wonder if that was the thought of your troubled heart.

And did you ever walk out upon that lonely desert island upon which you were wrecked, and say, "I am alone, — alone, — ALONE, — nobody was ever here before me"? AND DID YOU SUDDENLY PULL UP SHORT AS YOU NOTICED, IN THE SAND, THE FOOTPRINTS OF A MAN? I remember right well passing through that experience; and when I looked, lo! it was not merely the footprints of a man that I saw, but I thought I knew whose feet had left those imprints; they were the marks of One who had been crucified, for there was the print of the nails. So I thought to myself, "If he has been here, it is a desert island no longer. As his blessed feet once trod this wilderness-way, it blossoms now like the rose, and it becomes to my troubled spirit as a very garden of the Lord."

My object, in this discourse, will be to try to point out the FOOTPRINTS OF JESUS IN THE SANDS OF SORROW, that others of the children of God may have their hearts lifted up within them while they observe that "though he were a Son, yet he," as well as the rest of us who are in the Lord's family, "learned obedience by the things which he suffered."

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— Excerpted from C. H. Spurgeon's sermon #2722

"The Education of Sons of God"

Preached on Thursday evening - June 10, 1880

Published in MTP Vol 47, Year 1901, pg. 169, Hebrews 5:8

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There is no pang that rends the heart, I might almost say not one which disturbs the body, but what Jesus Christ has been with us in it all. Feel you the sorrows of poverty? He "had not where to lay his head." Do you endure the griefs of bereavement? Jesus "wept" at the tomb of Lazarus. Have you been slandered for righteousness' sake, and has it vexed your spirit? He said, "Reproach hath broken mine heart."
Have you been betrayed? Do not forget that he too had his familiar friend, who sold him for the price of a slave. On what stormy seas have you been tossed which have not also roared around his boat? Never glen of adversity so dark, so deep, apparently so pathless, but what in stooping down you may discover THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE CRUCIFIED ONE. In the fires and in the rivers, in the cold night and under the burning sun, he cries, "I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am both thy companion and thy God."

— Excerpted from C. H. Spurgeon's sermon #1270 "God With Us"

Preached on Sunday morning - December 26, 1875

Published in MTP Vol 21, Year 1875, pg. 715, Matthew 1:23

> Read "C. H. Spurgeon & WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?"[WWJD] — www.pilgrimpublications.com/wwjdo.htm <

Author: C. H. Spurgeon

*Note on Copyright: If any copyright on this poem is in effect, our intention of its use here is according to the "Fair Use" provision of Section #107 of Copyright Law of the United States of America, for the purpose of comment and research  —  See the Copyright Law website: www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107

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NOTES OF INTEREST

by Eric W. Hayden

C. H. Spurgeon's "WORDLESS BOOK"

Many Sunday school teachers, children's evangelists, and others think the "WORDLESS BOOK" is a 20th-century production. These little booklets with their green covers and inside pages of black, white, red, and gold (sometimes in paper, sometimes in flannelgraph) are much, much older, though.

While pastor of Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle (1956-61), I began reading through the 63 volumes of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's sermons with the idea of producing a biography [A Centennial History of Spurgeon's Tabernacle — published by Pilgrim]. Arriving at volume 57 [produced for the year 1911], I found that on January 11, 1866, he had preached a sermon entitled "The Wordless Book" — his text being...

"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" [Psalm 51:7].

This is how the sermon began —

"I dare say most of you have heard of a little book which an old divine used constantly to study, and when his friends wondered what there was in the book, he told them that he hoped they would all know and understand it, but that there was not a single word in it. When they looked at it, they found that it consisted of only three leaves: the first was black, the second was red, and the third was pure white.

The old minister used to gaze upon the black leaf to remind himself of his sinful state by nature, upon the red leaf to call to his remembrance the precious blood of Christ, and upon the white leaf to picture to him the perfect righteousness which God has given to believers through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ His Son. I want you, dear friends, to read this book this evening, and I desire to read it myself. May God the Holy Spirit graciously help us to do so to our profit!"

— Excerpted from C. H. Spurgeon's sermon #3278 "The Wordless Book"

Preached on Thursday evening - January 11, 1866

Pubished in MTP Vol 57, Year 1911, pg. 565, Psalm 51:7

This early WORDLESS BOOK had but three pages; gold for heaven is missing, and so is the green cover for growth. Still, Spurgeon proceeded to preach for his customary 50 minutes to an hour on the three pages — black, red, and white. There were probably some 200 of his orphanage boys and girls present, and maybe some found the Saviour as the Prince of Preachers spoke, in all simplicity, on the WORDLESS BOOK.

Living as we do in days when people know so little of the Bible or Gospel, we should surely "take a leaf out of the great preacher's book" and dare to preach with simplicity, using visual aids. After all, that is how Spurgeon's Saviour preached when upon the earth. Coins, candles, birds, beasts of the field, and even a child "in the midst" were His object lessons. We should never be accused of preaching over people's heads.  If we are over their heads, we also miss their hearts!

May it continue to be used for the salvation of boys and girls & men and women.

 

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