LITTLE four-year-old Ruth stood with her sister in the little meeting hall on the corner one evening. Her family always sat up near the front row and so they were quite near the preacher.
That night the preacher had told about hell and judgment and Ruth knew she did not want to go there. Oh how she wished that she was clean in God’s sight! But she had just that day slapped her sister and had told Mother, a lie. Ruth knew that she was a great sinner.
The people were singing:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
We thank Thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
And sinners plunged beneath — that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.”
Poor little Ruth could see how black her heart looked to God. Ail the naughty things she had done left their dark stains upon her soul. She cried and cried because she was so sorry for all the bad things she had done. But crying did not bring her peace. Tears cannot wash sins away, No, dear young friends,
Weeping will not save me;
Though my face were bathed in tears,
That could not allay my fears,
Could not wash the sins of years;
Weeping will not save me.
But the Saviour Himself was seeking little Ruth and was gently drawing her to Himself. By faith she could look up and see that Jesus had bled and died for her and that His precious blood washes whiter than snow. As soon as she trusted Him as her Saviour then the value of His precious blood in God’s sight was made good to her soul. The burden of her sins was rolled away in a moment, her sorrow was gone and her tears were now tears of joy. Perhaps no one else in the hall that night knew what had happened in little Ruth’s heart, but she knew that Jesus had washed all her sins away. Oh what a wonderful Saviour He is!
Faith in Christ will save me;
Trust in Him, the risen One,
Trust the work that He has done;
To His arms I now may run;
Faith in Christ will save me.
ML-11/22/1970