Daddy called Danny and David over to him. “Boys,” he said, “I’m going to visit Mommy and your new baby sister at the hospital. You be good boys and obey Aunt Helen. Stay in the backyard, and be sure you don’t go into the barnyard.”
For a while Danny and David rode their tricycles around and around the backyard. Each time they made the circle on the bumpy grass they thought of the smooth, hard-packed gravel in the barnyard. Finally, the boys decided that the barnyard was the only good place to ride.
Do you remember when Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden and God told them not to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden? They picked and ate that fruit anyway. Wasn’t that sad? And now ever since, each of us has a sinful nature that loves to do things that we know we should not do.
Danny and David worked at the gate latch until they got it open and happily rode their tricycles into the barnyard. But riding tricycles makes little boys thirsty, and they knew just where to get a drink in the barn. Soon they were in the room where the milking equipment is cleaned, climbing up on the sink to turn the faucet on.
When they both had gotten a good drink, Danny tried to turn off the water. His curly-haired head bobbed up and down as he worked at the faucet, but the harder he worked the faster the water gushed out. David couldn’t turn it off either. Both the boys began to feel guilty about coming into the barnyard and turning on the water. They knew they were disobeying. They decided to shut the barn door so their daddy couldn’t see them when he came home.
That’s what Adam and Eve did too. When they sinned they made themselves fig leaf aprons to cover their nakedness and then they hid among the trees of the garden. How foolish we are when we think we can hide from God who sees everything at all times. David said in Psalm 139:11,1211If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. (Psalm 139:11‑12), “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee. . . . The darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.”
Back in the closed barn the water soon filled the sink and began to splash over the edge. Soon the water was an inch deep all over the barn floor, then two inches, then three. The frightened boys ran back over to the barn door to open it again. Although the door had been easy for them to close, the handle was too high for them to reach, and they couldn’t open it. They began to pound on the door and cry out for help.
Meanwhile, Aunt Helen decided it was far too quiet in the backyard, so she left her ironing and came out to see what Danny and David were doing. Soon she was close enough to the barn to hear the boys pounding and crying.
Poor little boys! By now they were really scared. They needed someone to rescue them, but they were afraid to be found because they had disobeyed their daddy. Do you ever feel like that? You know you need God to forgive your sins, yet you are afraid of Him because you’ve sinned against Him. God is holy and He cannot overlook one sin, but He loves you and me so much that He gave His only Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for us. Danny and David knew they had disobeyed their daddy and deserved to be punished. We have disobeyed God and deserve to be punished too. But if we come to God and tell Him we are truly sorry for our sins, He will forgive every sin we’ve ever committed because He punished the Lord Jesus for them. Isn’t that wonderful?
Aunt Helen opened the barn door. Out ran the boys and the water. She ran in and turned off the faucet. Just then the boys’ daddy drove into the driveway. He was sad that his boys had been disobedient, and their sin had to be punished. But when the punishment was over, the boys were completely forgiven. You can be completely forgiven for your sins right now, if you will believe that “Christ died for [your] sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3). God says, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” Isaiah 44:2222I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. (Isaiah 44:22).
Have you come to the Lord Jesus to have your sins forgiven?
ML-05/01/1994