Monday, January 21, 2013

The origin of "Footprints"?

Was Spurgeon the Original Inspiration for the “Footprints” Poem? The opening paragraph of a Spurgeon sermon from 1880: 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 no longer a desert island. 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!” —Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Education of the Sons of God” (Metropolitan Tabernacle: June 10, 1880).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have always loved the Footprints poem. To really imagine Jesus' carrying me, shielding me from the harsh storms of life... me, His child, tucked safely in His arms. It brings such peace.
Thank you for sharing this piece from the sermon of Spurgeon. Perhaps he was the inspiration behind Footprints. How cool.