A Chinese mother one day went up in the hills to cut grass which she used as fuel, for they were very poor. She had her baby tied on her back and held another little child by the hand. In the other she carried a sharp sickle to cut the grass with.
Just as she reached the top of the hill, she heard a roar that almost frightened her out of her wits. A mother tiger sprang at her, followed by two little cubs. Perhaps the tiger thought that the woman was going to hurt her babies, and I am quite sure the woman was afraid the tiger would hurt hers. So as the great cat sprang, the woman slashed at it with her sharp little sickle.
Now this poor Chinese mother was very unlearned; she had never been to a Christian preaching or a Sunday school in her life. She had never seen a Bible, and she could not have read it if she had. But one day as she was walking along the street, she heard a white lady talking to a few native women about someone called Jesus, who was able to help you if you were in trouble.
As the tiger tore her arm and shoulder with its great claws, she remembered this wonderful story, and as she cut at the great beast with her little weapon, she kept crying out, “Oh! Jesus, help me.”
Do you think the Lord Jesus heard her cry? Indeed He did, for His ears are always open to our cry, and His promise is, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
Sometimes, boys and girls, we make promises and find we cannot do what we said we would; then sometimes we forget too. But the Lord Jesus is not like that. Abraham believed God, and he was “fully persuaded, that what He had prosed, He was able also to perform,” (Rom. 4:2121And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (Romans 4:21)); we may also be fully persuaded of the same thing. So this poor woman found out.
She went on hitting at the tiger, crying each time, “Oh, Jesus, help me,” and in a few minutes the answer came. Her great enemy, who could so easily have killed her, turned and ran away, her cubs following her. The woman also turned and managed to crawl back to her village with her little ones. She was quite badly hurt, but her friends carried her to the missionary hospital where she was cared for, and got quite well again.
Best of all, there she learned to know more about that blessed Lord Jesus, who had saved her from death. She found that He could also save her from eternal death, which is banishment from God, because of our sins. David could say, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.” Psalms 103:33Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; (Psalm 103:3).
How glad this poor mother must have been to find such a wonderful Saviour, who could do so much for her. He is still the same, dear reader, and He wants to save and bless you as well.
ML 05/26/1968