Saalfeld, Germany is an old mining town, built on the side of a mountain. Formerly, there were many more mines visible than are to be found now. Many a house was built over a shaft or pit that went down deep into the earth. Such a pit was under the cellar of a house where a widow lived with her little daughter, Gretchen, just seven years of age. The mouth of the pit had been covered with boards, so no one feared any danger.
One day, Mother sent her little girl into the cellar for something. Little Gretchen ran quickly downstairs. Suddenly, as she stepped on a board, it broke under her, and with a scream, she disappeared down the hole. Her mother rushed into the cellar with a light, and seeing the opened pit and her child gone, she almost fainted and nearly plunged in after her. Running back upstairs, she called for help. Some neighbor women arrived, but the men were all away working. The women wrung their hands as they gazed down into the darkened pit but could do nothing.
Then, suddenly, they heard Gretchen’s little voice crying below, “Oh, help me! Help me! But quick, quick!” An iron hook in the side of the shaft had caught the child’s apron and held her hanging over the dark hole below. Finding her child still alive, yet unable to help her, the poor mother was almost beside herself.
Then, an aged miner arrived. He carefully widened the hole, and fastened a pulley by a rope, with a bucket attached to it. He worked quickly, but it seemed an age to those waiting ones, especially the little girl down in the pit. Many of them prayed aloud, and the poor child having almost lost her reason, could now and then hear them, while the mother could neither speak nor move.
The aged miner scarcely spoke a word, but only softly prayed to God. Then, after all was ready for him to go down, he committed himself to his Saviour’s keeping, stepped into the bucket and, holding a miner’s light in his hand, he was slowly and cautiously let down. Like a star prided by God, the child could see the light coming toward her. She raised her hands imploringly. Soon, the old miner was so near to her that she could see him. Then, he told her to be of good courage and keep quiet, and by the mercy of God, she would be saved. The shaft narrowed as he went down, and he feared he would not be able to pass her without touching her, causing her to fall to the bottom.
Making a sign to those above not to lower him any further, he threw a rope with a loop to the child, which she took hold of with her hands. She raised herself up a little with it, and then, first with one hand and then the other, she grasped the swinging bucket. At that instant, the hook on which she had been hanging broke out of the wall and fell. But the Lord gave strength to the old man, and grasping the little girl, he lifted her into the bucket, while he shouted: “All you up there, thank God! I’ve got the child!”
The child had been brought out of the pit, and the dear old man, his eyes beaming, committed her to the grateful, happy mother, who at once seized her and pressed her to her bosom. In after years, when relating the story of that sore trial, the mother could tell of how it confirmed her confidence in her Father’s love and power.
Dear young friend, if you are still unsaved, you are in a far worse pit —the pit of sin and condemnation. Only the Lord Jesus can get you out of that pit. God says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” Job 33:2424Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. (Job 33:24).
The Lord Jesus has come and gone all the way down to the bottom. He has suffered death for you upon the cross, and now risen and glorified, He is able to lift you out of that pit of sin and death. And just as the little girl was told to be still and let another save her, so does Christ. Just trust yourself to His arm of power and love, and in a moment you will be lifted from darkness and danger to the place of light and safety, forever.
ML 12/22/1968