IN our picture this week we see the two men in their canoe gliding on the running stream, and able to guide themselves where they want to go, but I would like to tell you about a boat that was sent adrift. Does someone say what is it to be adrift? I will try and explain it to you, because this drifting often ends in shipwreck. I read of a boy who lay down in an open boat to read by the sea-shore. His companions saw him go, and when the tide had risen, and the boat was afloat, they quietly cut her loose, and let her drift away upon the waves. They did it “just for fun,” and meant no harm; but it was a very naughty act. When, at last, he did get up and look around him, he was far out on the heaving waters—too far for anyone to see him, or to hear his cries for help. There were no oars in the boat, and no sails. He could do nothing to help himself; he could only sit and watch the shore, fading away from his view as the shades of night sank down upon the wide, dark sea. How desolate he must have felt as, cold and hungry, he saw the far-off lights, and knew that there he had a home, with light and warmth and food and loving hearts within it! How his heart must have ached as he saw the gleaming lights grow dimmer, and knew that he was drifting farther and farther out into the perils and darkness of the rolling, restless ocean! And when the morning dawned, he looked in vain for land; he did not even know in which direction it lay; nor could he possibly have found his own way back to it had he had the strength to do so. He was adrift, and lost.
Perhaps I am writing to some poor drifting soul that once was happy in the home of God’s light and favor; and, through carelessness perhaps, you have laid yourself down to rest, and have drifted silently, but surely, away from the enjoyment of your father’s love and care. You hardly know how the separation began; it was so very little at first. But now you may have been roused up to find yourself desolate and alone. You may feel you cannot help yourself and do not know where to turn or what to do. You cry out, but there seems no answer. You are like the poor drifting boy. Did he ever get back? Yes, he did; or, rather, he was taken back; for, through the great mercy of God, after he had floated about for two or three days, the captain of a passing vessel caught sight of the open boat, found the perishing lad within it, warmed and clothed and fed him, and bore him back in safety to his home. And how are you to get home again? Just in the same way. There is Some One seeking you—the Lord Jesus. He might use these feeble words to reach your drifting soul. Trust Him. He died—”the just for the unjust to bring us to God.” Rely on Him to do it; He will not fail you,.
Messages of God’s Love 10/1/1911