David Deaveau stood on a cliff on the side of Mount Seymour overlooking a valley of tall pines whose ice and snow encrusted boughs sparkled like a trillion diamonds in the sunlight. Silvery streamlets laced the forest; it was an enchanting view.
"How beautiful!" David thought as he stood there by himself, "A few minutes looking at this was more than worth a couple of hours hiking to get here."
He turned to leave, striking out down a different path from the one he had taken as he came up. As he was descending, a daypack containing oranges, bread and juices slipped from his shoulders and tumbled down the mountainside. "No, it makes no sense to look for it; I'll never find it," he reflected, and went on his way.
As the path went down the forest became denser. Soon he lost his bearings, and night arrived finding David tired, cold, hungry and lost. He curled up against the trunk of a fallen tree and tried to sleep.
Next morning at daybreak, as soon as there was light enough, he began walking again. The forest which he had previously admired appeared to him now like a maze, a labyrinth of narrow passages through a dark world in which he could not figure out his direction. The sunshine which had sparkled and gleamed on top of the forest barely penetrated the branches, leaving David wandering in the shade deep shade, where the warmth of the sun would have been so welcome to him.
David kept walking all day, telling himself that help couldn't be far off. Amid growing hunger pains he thought longingly of food. Pictures of food floated through his mind, and he kept them as long as possible. They were only illusions; they couldn't supply energy to his body, but they did sustain his hope. The second day ended like the first, with David lost, hungry, tired and cold.
Nine days passed with David wandering through the forests surrounding Mount Seymour. Nine days of walking, nine days without food or shelter. Each day left David weaker than the day before and a day closer to the end of his endurance.
On the tenth day David's frost-bitten, blistered feet gave out and he could no longer walk or stand. He could only crawl, and crawl he did, over rocks and creeks and snow banks. He realized his end was near as he found his strength failing. When the tenth night came David, believing he would never wake up if he let himself fall asleep, forced himself to keep crawling.
The beautiful forest at the foot of Mt. Seymour was claiming David's life. Ten days before it had spread out before him as a lovely picture; now its harsh reality was claiming his life.
On the tenth night at 3:15 a.m., David found a house—an inhabited house. Crawling to the front door, he was able to touch the doorbell and obtain help. His wandering was ended, just in time to save his life.
Most people could not physically endure ten days in a harsh and cold environment with no food. David's case is remarkable because he lasted so long. Yet, as I look out over this world I marvel at how people can endure, how they can go on living in its harsh and cold environment without the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know very well how enchantingly beautiful this world appears to the young person, because it appeared that way to me. "How wonderful to be alive!" and, "Life, how I love every minute of it!" are the exclamations of many young souls as they view their lives spread out before them. But as they step forward into their futures and seek a path for themselves through this world—a path not of God's choosing but of their own choice—how quickly they lose their way. The world which had stretched before them in such illusory beauty becomes like a maze in which it is easy to become hopelessly entangled and lost.
Shadows overspread their lives. Love, which is as necessary to our souls as warmth is to our bodies, becomes scarce or vanishes altogether. The soul begins to hunger, and finds nothing in this world to appease its hunger. Illusions are entertained that if only they could obtain a certain degree of wealth, if only they could enjoy such and such a pleasure, then their soul would be satisfied. Every new day leaves them hungrier and emptier than the day before. Lost, cold and starving are words which describe their state. They are words which described my life before I came to Christ.
How long can people live like that? How long till their hearts fail them because of the emptiness?
Everything this lost, cold, starving world needs is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is salvation for the lost! There is food for the hungry soul! And there is love so wonderful, full and free, that it is a shame not to bask in its warmth.
Just think of these wonderful verses in each of the three categories: Salvation for the Lost "The Son of man is come 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).
All these things can be yours just by receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior. Haven't you wandered, cold, hungry and lost, through the maze of this world long enough without Him?