Mount St. Helens had exploded. Some people had escaped the terrible destruction. Some were now dead. Were there any survivors up on those ash-covered slopes?
Three people were reported to have been staying in a cabin on Meta Lake at the time of the explosion. Were they alive? For days the rescue helicopters crisscrossed the area only a few feet from the ground. But no success! No sign of humans, either dead or alive, could be found. They couldn't even find the cabin, amid the destruction and ash. The uniform layer of ash made everything look the same.
Then they called in Hauser, the German shepherd dog; and he did what the humans couldn't do. The dog sniffed and sniffed. Soon he stopped and dug his nose into the loose ash. The searchers dug into the ash and found a camping site with a tent, but no people. Later Hauser located a mine shaft and the destroyed cabin. Then he found the people, a couple buried in the ash, then another man; but they were victims, not survivors.
Humans could tell what was on the surface, but not underneath. Underneath there was only death and corruption, but it was well-hidden. That's the way each of us is. Underneath the surface we are dead in sin even though it may be well-hidden. Until we are saved, God says we are "dead in trespasses and sins." Eph. 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1). And that includes each one of us, for God says, "All have sinned." Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23).
Other people are often fooled, but God sees into our hearts. He says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart." Jer. 17:9, 109The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9‑10). Just as the dog, Hauser, was able to find the dead people under the ash, God is able to show us the deadness, or sinfulness, of our own hearts.
Neither the dog nor the searchers could do one thing to help those poor, dead victims of the eruption. In contrast, God can lift us right out of the deadness of our sins and give us a new life in Christ. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17). "God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." 1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9). "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).