Isn't that an odd title for a gospel story? Among the Scotch it is a cry of distress and means, "Pull me up." I first heard it years ago. We were in a town in the north of Scotland. An evangelist had been faithfully preaching the gospel there, and one night there came a woman to hear him. She was known all through the neighborhood as "Drunken Janet," and her presence at the meeting surprised everybody.
Poor Janet had reached the extremity, and could raise no more money for drink. She had sold or pawned everything of value in her home, and could no longer finance her sprees, which were usually of many days duration. Befuddled as she was, she wandered from her home, disgusted with herself and miserably unhappy.
In this condition, she found her way into the meeting at the moment when the evangelist was expounding on the word "whosoever," in John 3:16. He had just stated that this word embraced all, no matter how bad they were or how low they had fallen. He remarked that though one were a confirmed drunkard, this word "whosoever" was for just such characters, and that even if they were the very chief of sinners, God's love in this text was for them.
Drunken Janet listened, amazed. Could a holy God love her? At the close of the meeting, Janet was on her knees, seeking salvation. Her extremity was now God's opportunity. The Holy Spirit opened her blinded eyes, and she was led to believe that "whosoever" meant even her. Janet accepted the Savior of sinners and was gloriously saved that night.
She ran home to her husband, a sober, humble man, joyfully crying, "John, I am saved! John, I am saved!"
"What do you mean, Janet?" he asked.
"I mean, John, God loves me and I'm saved. That `whosoever' means me!"
"Na, na, Janet," he replied. "Ye canna be saved se easy as that, for it says in the guid Book ye maun work oot yere ain salvation."
"Yes, John," she answered him, "that's true; but ye maun get it first. I have got it, and I want ye to get it as well as me."
There was no use in Janet talking. John's mind was set that nobody could be saved as easy as Janet had said, just by taking God at His word. So what could Janet do? She began to live Christ before her husband, putting in a word now and then to see if he would yield. The answer was still the same: "Ye canna be saved se easy as that. Ye maun work oot yere ain salvation."
Weeks passed and everybody saw that Janet was a changed woman. One by one she redeemed her belongings from the pawn shop. She herself looked tidy and her home was clean. Even John, together with his neighbors, saw the reality of the change in his wife and began to desire the same peace and joy. He realized his own sinful, lost condition, but he would not yield.
One night when it was very dark, John went out to draw water. Missing his footing, he fell into the well. He began at once to cry out: "O God, save me! O God, save me!"
His wife and a friend heard his cries and rushed to the rescue. Procuring a rope, they lowered it down to John in the well. He eagerly grasped hold of it, shouting: "Rug me up, Janet!"
Said Janet, "Have you got a firm hold of it, John?" "Yes, Janet," he said; "rug me up!"
They began to pull. When John's feet were out of the water, Janet let him go plump back into the well. "Oh, my! Janet, what are ye doing? Are ye going to let me be drowned?"
"Oh, no, John," was the reply. "I want to save ye in yere ain way, and that is by inches. I want ye to work out yere ain salvation before I save ye."
"Oh, my, Janet! I have been wrong. I see noo I must be saved all at once. Rug me up, Janet!"
Now Janet, with the aid of the neighbor, pulled John up, and from that hour, John too was a changed man.
John had been under conviction of sin for some days, but he had refused to yield to the Savior. Now this fall into the well had caused him to cry to God and he gave up his stubborn will. Thus Janet's prayers were answered, though, as it sometimes happens, in a very singular way.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9.