A Snowy Morning in Colchester
On a snowy January morning in 1850, a young Charles Spurgeon found himself enveloped in darkness and despair. Raised in a Christian home, Spurgeon was plagued by an overwhelming sense of sin and hopelessness, convinced of his lost state. On his way to a scheduled place of worship, a snowstorm diverted his path to a small Primitive Methodist Chapel on Artillery Street in Colchester, England. Inside, a substitute preacher stood in for the minister, who was snowed in.
Look and Live
The preacher read from Isaiah 45:22, proclaiming, 'Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' As Spurgeon later recounted, 'I saw at once the way of salvation. I was so possessed with that one thought.' In that moment, Spurgeon understood that salvation was not something to be earned through effort but a gift to be received by simply looking to Jesus.
Delivered from Despair
Describing the transformation, he said, 'Between half-past ten o'clock, when I entered that chapel, and half-past twelve o'clock, when I was back again at home, what a change had taken place in me! Simply by looking to Jesus, I had been delivered from despair.' As he walked home, the falling snowflakes seemed to speak to him of the forgiveness he had found, leaving him 'white as the driven snow through the grace of God.'
A Life of Preaching
This encounter marked the beginning of Spurgeon's journey as a preacher who would go on to share the message of salvation with thousands. He ascribed his transformation wholly to God, understanding that it was Jesus who had brought him out of darkness into light. Spurgeon's testimony is a powerful reminder of the simplicity and profundity of faith in Christ, a faith that changed the course of his life and the lives of countless others.
