Is there someone in your family who especially likes to tease? Denise was nine years old and thought it was fun to tease her brothers and sisters.
One summer day she and her younger sister and younger brother, Anne and Daniel, were having fun climbing around on an old lumber pile near a sawdust shed on their farm. It was not long until the lumber pile did not seem high enough, so they climbed onto the roof of the shed. The roof was on a slant, and they started at the low end and were going to crawl up to the high end to look over the edge. They knew very well that it wasn’t safe to be up there, but they decided to climb up anyway.
It so happened that an electric wire hung quite low over the lower end of the shed. Denise decided she was going to tease Anne and Daniel. Standing up, she yelled, “Watch me touch this wire!”
They all knew that wires can be dangerous. Anne and Daniel were sitting higher up on the roof, and immediately both of them screamed, “NO!”
Oh, but Denise was having fun. She moved her hand a little closer to the wire.
That really scared Anne and Daniel. As they yelled for her to stop, they did not realize that they were scooting higher on the roof - backing away from that dangerous wire.
Denise refused to stop. Finally, her hand was so close it nearly touched the wire, and just then Daniel suddenly disappeared! He was so badly frightened that he had scooted right off the edge of the roof and fell to the ground below.
Now it was Denise’s turn to be frightened. Her fun was over. She and Anne peered down at their brother lying motionless on the ground below.
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3). The three children knew what they were doing was dangerous, but as long as they were careful they thought no one would know the difference. The Lord Jesus knows our hearts. If we can get away with something once, we’ll do it again. Sometimes He allows something to stop us.
The girls called to their parents who came running. Their dad carried Daniel right to the house. Poor Daniel was in a lot of pain and moaned and cried quietly. It was punishment enough for the girls to see their brother hurting so badly.
How thankful they were when they found out he had not broken any bones, and he soon recovered from the fall.
Often we may be doing something where we hope no one sees us. If it hadn’t been for the accident, no one would have known about the three children climbing on the shed roof. How important to realize that “Thou God seest me.” Nothing is hidden from God. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:1313Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13). He not only sees what we are doing, but He can look right down into our hearts. Some of us have hearts that are filled with sin. Some of us have hearts that are washed clean from sin. Which kind of heart does He see in you? “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:77Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7).
ML-06/05/1994