Susie, Amy, Ann and Peter, each carrying a pail for collecting wild blueberries, moved slowly through the woods. They talked about a lot of things as they picked from the little bushes that were loaded with berries. It was a beautiful, warm, summer afternoon, just perfect for being outside.
After several hours of picking, nine-year-old Susie, who was the oldest, suggested that they should start for home. The shadows were growing long as they started back toward the farm where they lived. They walked for some time, but still didn’t come to the dirt road they wanted to find. After wandering around for almost an hour, Susie said to the others, “Now, don’t cry, but I think we’re lost!”
Discussing what they should do next, Amy suggested that they ask the Lord Jesus to help them. The three sisters thought that was a good idea, but their cousin Peter said he didn’t want to pray. The three girls knelt down on the ground and each one asked the Lord Jesus to help them. They were used to talking to the Lord Jesus, because they knew Him as their Savior. Peter, however, was not saved from his sins and did not love the Lord Jesus. He just continued walking while the girls prayed. Catching up to Peter, Amy told him that if he didn’t ask Jesus for help, he would probably be lost in the woods all night! Peter just laughed, saying that since they were all together, how could he be the only one lost in the woods all night?
The four of them walked a little farther when suddenly little Ann wailed, “I left my bucket back there!” She had not picked it up after they had knelt down to pray. It was just a short way back, but Susie didn’t want Ann to go back alone. She suggested they all go back together, but Peter refused. He didn’t want to go back and he decided that he’d find his own way out.
The three girls left Peter and soon found Ann’s pail of berries. But when they got back to where they had left Peter, he was nowhere to be found. As they wandered around looking and calling for Peter, they discovered a cow walking in the woods.
“Hey, that’s one of our cows!” exclaimed Susie. “We can follow it home!”
That cow was the answer to their prayers. After the girls had followed it as it wandered around for quite a while, the cow led them out of the woods. Then it was easy to find their way home. But Peter was still lost. Because he wanted to do things his own way, it turned out that he was lost in the woods all alone.
By the time the girls got home and told their parents that Peter was lost, it was almost dark. Right away they left to look for him, but soon it got too dark, and then it began to rain. Lightening flashed and thunder crashed. It rained heavily all through the night.
Early the following morning they finally found poor Peter. He was soaked, scared and lonely. They wrapped him in a blanket and their father carried him back home.
I am sure that Peter never forgot that night alone in the woods. But Peter didn’t learn an important lesson from his mistake. Even when he was an old man, he still wanted to find his own way to heaven, just like he wanted to find his own way out of the woods, without asking God for His help.
Boys and girls, do you know that you might be lost, right now? Long ago, Adam sinned in the beautiful Garden of Eden, and he became afraid of God and hid from Him. When God came looking for him that evening, He called to Adam, “Where [are you]?” (Genesis 3:99And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9)). From that day to this day, every person that is born is born lost, far from God. Thankfully Jesus, God’s Son, came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)) because God wants to have a close relationship with each of the people He has made. He wants to be your loving, wonderful Father. I hope you will let Him find you.
Messages of God’s Love 5/26/2024