It was a bright spring morning, the birds warbled blithely among the trees, while Joe and his school chums walked along the country road to the village school. Just then a bird flew out of a thick fir tree in the woods close by, and two of the boys cried out at once, “A nest!” In a few minutes books were thrown down, and one or two were quickly climbing the tree looking for the nest. After at least twenty minutes searching, they had to descend disappointed, for no nest was there.
In the meanwhile time had been passing. The boys were still in the woods when the school bell rang. They knew well enough that they would be late and kept in after school.
“Let’s stay in the woods until dinner time,” suggested one. “Nobody will know.” Sad to say, this arrangement found general favor among the boys. Though Joe knew well that his parents had warned him that he must not go into the woods on the way to school and that they would be very grieved if they knew he had played hooky, he fell in with the plan, and was soon as much interested as the rest. Still Joe was far from easy, and while the other boys were out searching for nests, he listened, thinking every vehicle going by on the road might be his father going to town. A baker’s van passed along the road, and the driver, seeing the boys robbing a nest, shouted as he passed, “Be sure your sin will find you out!”
Whether the boys in the tree heard him or not, those strange solemn words fell distinctly on Joe’s ear, as they echoed through the woods. How he wished he had not come there, but it was no use wishing that now. He was glad to get out of the woods, but very unhappy at the thought of appearing before his father and mother. The words still seemed to sound in his ear, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Nothing was said at dinner time, his parents not suspecting anything wrong. But at night when bedtime came, when Joe came to kiss his father and mother goodnight, he broke down and told the whole story.
Grieved as his parents were, they sought to show him how God had sent that voice to sound a warning text in his ear, that he might be awakened of the sinfulness of his ways, and thus be made to see his need of a Saviour.
Joe never forgot that day on which he played hooky, nor did he forget the text that was echoed through the wood. Joe is now a happy Christian boy, saved and on his way to heaven.
Sin may be very sweet in its bud, but the fruit will be bitterness and sorrow. Hasten to the Saviour in the days of your youth; He can also remove sin’s stains and break sin’s power, giving peace to your conscience and rest to your heart.
ML 02/14/1965