HERE we have a little boy and a little girl, cleaning out a dish with a spoon, and two fowls eagerly waiting to receive the contents. The mother, also is standing near and looking on with evident interest.
No doubt these children take pleasure in feeding the chickens, as we all ought to take pleasure in showing kindness to
God’s creatures. The mother is interested in seeing this; and I am sure God is still more interested in seeing any of us imitators of His own goodness.
Oh! how good God is. He makes provision for all His creatures. He feeds the ravens, clothes the lilies, and notes the sparrow’s fall. No creature is too small or too insignificant, to secure His notice. He has created all, cares for all, provides for all. The writer of Ps. 145, filled with a sense of God’s goodness, addresses Him with praise, saying, “Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” God has not created the myriads of creatures around us to leave them helpless and without care. He has taught the birds how to make their nests, and the conies how to make their homes in the rocks; He has given warm coats to the sheep, and cattle, and beasts of the field, to keep them warm in winter’s cold; and He supplies food of many kinds to meet the need of all.
Thus God is good to all His creatures. And if you and I, dear young reader, are not merely His creatures, but His children, will He not much more supply our need? Will He not give us food? And will He not clothe us? Surely, if He has made us His children— His own sons and daughters—we are of more value to Him than many sparrows, and of far more importance than the lilies which He clothes so beautifully, Yes, we may count on Him as a loving Father to care for us, to feed us, and to clothe us.
But there is one need that we have, far beyond that of the beasts. We are sinners, and the beasts are not, because they have no knowledge of good and evil. We have intelligence to know what is right and what is wrong, and are responsible to God. We cannot say this of the beasts. We have sinned, and because we have sinned, we need a Saviour. God in His great goodness has met this need also. He has sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour. And Jesus has died for us, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
Dear young reader, you accept the food and the clothing which God provides. Have you accepted the Saviour which He has provided?
ML 04/26/1903