Memory verse: “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6
Schatzen, a wire-haired brindle dachshund, peeped out from under his long, shaggy eyebrows and looked unhappily over the little backyard which was now his new home. Being a “high-class” dog with “papers” did not help the aching of his doggy heart for his old, loving playmates. Perhaps that is why he refused to go into the doghouse provided for him. Instead, he chose to live under the woodpile against the garage. His “weiner dog” body, having very short legs, did not need much headroom. He only came out to eat and, of course, to bark at cats and rabbits if nobody was around.
Today as a dreary rain fell he dozed, but was suddenly awakened by a cold feeling on his hind legs. His woodpile house was leaking! As he wriggled to a new spot, he heard his owner at the back door.
“Schatzen, come here!” she whistled and called again. Getting no response from Schatzen she shouted, “Well, go ahead and be stubborn!” and she slammed the door.
The next day food was placed outside the door for Schatzen, and the owners then left for a short vacation. The drizzle continued all day as Schatzen dozed. Unknown to him the rain was slowly soaking the boards in his woodpile. Weighted and sagging, they made his tunnel to get out too low. When Schatzen tried to leave his cozy inside-room, he found he was a prisoner in the woodpile! And the owner he had ignored had driven away for a long weekend! Would he die all alone in the woodpile?
On the fourth day he heard a wonderful voice speaking to his new owner... his old owner! He cried and yelped! She was listening and she heard him. Those boards began to fly and quickly she reached the trembling wet thing. Schatzen looked up with eyes sad enough to melt a heart of stone. Even though he was soaked and chilled and hungry, he was happy now with those he loved.
Later, as his dear old owner was holding him warm and snug, she whispered, “You precious, stubborn little thing! Elsa,” she said to her daughter nearby, “Schatzen is a good picture of us before we are saved. We want to do things our own way and we’re held prisoner by sin. All he could do was cry; just like us — helpless. ‘When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ That’s Romans 5:6. But Isaiah 65:24 shows how quickly our God will help us — ‘Before they call, I will answer."'
You will be glad to know that Schatzen soon moved to a new, happy home where there were children. But what about you? Are you stiffening yourself against God’s voice to you? Every day you add to the heavy load of sin. One cry and Jesus will hear — Jesus Himself, the very Son of God. Because He could not sin, God could punish Him instead of you and me. Let Him lift your heavy load, and then you, too, will go to a bright, new home where Jesus is.
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
ML-12/15/1985