Afraid They Would Get Mad


Don't be afraid of getting them mad, if it is the truth that makes

them mad. If it is our foolishness that makes them mad, then we have

got reason to mourn over it. If it is the truth, God sent it, and it

is a good deal better to have a man get mad than it is to have him

go to sleep. I think the trouble with a great many nowadays is that

they are sound asleep, and it is a good deal better to rouse them

even if they do
ake up mad.



The fact was, the Jordan never had any great reputation as a river.

It flowed into the Dead Sea, and that sea never had a harbor to it,

and its banks were not half so beautiful as those of the rivers of

Damascus. Damascus was one of the most beautiful cities in the

world. It is said that when Mahomet beheld it he turned his head

aside for fear it should divert his thoughts from heaven.



Naaman turned away in a rage. "Ah," he said, "here am I, a great

conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, holding the very

highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet does not even come

out to meet me; he simply sends a message. Why, I thought he would

surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord

his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper."



There it is. I hardly ever knew a man yet who, when talked to about

his sins, didn't say:



"Yes, but I thought so and so."



"Mr. Moody," they say, "I will tell you what I think; I will tell

you my opinion."



In the 55th chapter of Isaiah it says that God's thoughts are not

our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. And so it was with Naaman. In

the first place, he thought a good big doctor's fee would do it all,

and settle everything up. And besides that there was another thing

he thought; he thought going to the king with his letters of

introduction would do it. Yes, those were Naaman's first thoughts.

I thought. Exactly so. He turned away in rage and disappointment.

He thought the prophet would have come out to him very humble and

very subservient, and



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