1 Samuel 25:16

Walls

They were a wall unto us both by night and by day. 1 Samuel 25:16.

“A wall unto us.” Don't you think that was rather a nice thing to be called? The shepherds of a very wealthy man called Nabal had been feeding their flocks in a wild, desolate region where they were exposed to danger from savage beasts and wild tribes, and when they returned home one of them told how King David's men had been “a wall” unto them by day and by night. He meant of course that the king's men had protected them continually and enabled them to feed their flocks in safety.

Now it is a splendid thing to be a wall to help to keep away harm and hurt from those who are weaker than ourselves. That is what our brave sailors and soldiers do. They are a wall between us and our enemies. But you can all be walls too. I wonder how?

1. Well, first, you can be a wall at home. Perhaps you think that is what father and mother should be that father is there to fight your battles with the world, and mother to protect and care for you. And that is true. But you can be a wall too. For what is it that spoils a home? It is the little petty squabbles, the little worries and frets; and those are the things you can help to keep out.

It takes two to make a quarrel, you know, and if you refuse to quarrel then there will be one less in the house to squabble with. And if you keep a bright face when things go a bit wrong, it will help you to bear your own troubles and it will help others to bear theirs. So don't forget to be a wall at home.

2. And then you can be a wall at school and among your friends. Is there some boy or girl in your class who for no very good reason is unpopular? Perhaps they are not so well-dressed as the rest, perhaps they are stupid, or timid, or awkward, or shy, and the others are inclined to make fun of them and to despise them. There are boys and girls like that in every school and you can be a wall to them. You can befriend them and bring out the best that is in them.

Is there any boy or girl you know who is easily led away? You can be a wall to them. You can help to keep them straight. Many a boy and girl has gone astray just for the lack of a good friend to steady them.

3. And then you can be a wall to the weak and the poor and the oppressed and the lonely in the world at large. That is what Jesus was. He helped the weak to be strong, He freed the oppressed, He was a friend to the lonely. And Jesus still calls those who would follow Him to be walls to such as these. If you are strong, and young, and bright He asks you to use your strength, and your youth, and your brightness to help those who are weak, and old, and sad.

Perhaps you think you can't do much because you are so little. But boys and girls can do a great deal much more than they often think. The question is “Do you want to be a helper or a hinderer?” Because, you know, there are really just two kinds of people in the world the helpers and the hinderers the people who build up walls, and the people who pull them down and leave them lying about for others to fall over.

There have been men and women who have been magnificent, strong walls to the weak and the oppressed men such as William Wilberforce, who fought for the freedom of the slaves; women such as Elizabeth Fry, who took up the cause of the prisoners, and Florence Nightingale, who cared for the soldiers. They were like the splendid walls of a fortress. We may be just very plain, ordinary people; but if we cannot hope to be fortress walls perhaps we can be rough stone dykes, and that is better than being stumbling- stones.