Robby got his new cat on a Saturday. Her name was Pretty Kitty. She was a big gray cat with a white stomach and white paws. And she was a great mouser!
The family needed a cat like that because the old house they had just moved into had not been lived in for five years except by mice. A few snakes had made their nests under the house too, along with a family of skunks.
That same day Robby’s dad and uncle crawled under the house to check the plumbing and to clean out any creatures living under there. When the men had finished their work, they crawled back out and then sealed up all the openings, to be sure no more snakes, skunks or mice could get in.
In the afternoon, Robby couldn’t find his new cat. “She likely ran away,” said his dad. “Full-grown cats are often unhappy to move from the home where they’re used to living.”
And she didn’t come back all day Sunday or Monday.
Monday evening Robby was still thinking about Pretty Kitty. Dad was busy laying a new floor in the kitchen. Half of the new boards were laid, and the old boards were loosened, ready to take out. Mom had made good beef stew, and the family sat down right on the floor to enjoy a picnic-style supper.
Before they gave thanks for the food, Robby said, “We could ask the Lord Jesus to make Pretty Kitty come back home, couldn’t we?... He made Meeshka better.”
“Yes we could,” said Dad. “God says, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’” (John 16:2424Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:24).) So they all prayed together for Pretty Kitty. No sooner had Dad said “Amen” than they heard a faint “meow.”
“Where did that ‘meow’ come from?” asked Robby excitedly. “It sounds like it came from right under us.” Robby jumped up and lifted one of the loose floorboards. There was a hole under it just big enough to put his hand through. He got some beef stew on his hand and wiggled his fingers under the floor. Pretty Kitty came over to that good smell, and soon she squeezed through the hole into the kitchen. She had gone under the house when the men were working, but she hadn’t followed them out, so she had been sealed into the crawl space for three days and needed someone to help her escape.
Being sinners, we do things that are wrong. Just as Pretty Kitty got sealed under the floor, our sins seal us into the darkness of evil. But the Lord Jesus can bring us out into the light. He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12). And when He brings us into the light, He feeds us too, for He is “the living bread which came down from heaven.” John 6:5151I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51).
Pretty Kitty needed freedom and food, and we do too! We need freedom from our sins, and God can give it to us because Christ died on the cross for sins. When our sins have been washed away in Jesus’ precious blood, we need food from the Bible to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We can get that food by reading the Word of God, the Bible, every day. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” John 6:3535And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35).
Pretty Kitty was very anxious to get out from under the house and have something to eat. Are you anxious to be set free from your sins and to learn about the Saviour from the Bible?
ML-10/04/1992