Bible teacher F.B. Meyer once had a firewood factory that employed prisoners.

Meyer would give them a job to do, good wages, a place to live, and, when possible, spiritual encouragement.

In exchange, he expected them to render good employment.

They didn’t, and he lost money.

Finally he fired them all and purchased a circular saw powered by a gas engine.

In one hour, it turned out more work than the combined efforts of all the men covered in the course of a whole day.

One day, Meyer had a little conversation with his saw.

“How can you turn out so much work?” he asked.

“Are you sharper than the saws my men were using? No? Is your blade shinier? No? What then? Better oil or lubrication against the wood?”

The saw’s answer, could it speak, would have been, “I think there is a stronger driving power behind me. Something is working through me with a new force. It is not I, it is the power behind.”

Meyer later

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