A newspaper reported the story of a fire in an apartment building where a little blind girl spent her days while her father was at work. As the fire spread, the firemen called to the girl to jump from the window of the sixth floor where she was standing, and assured her they would catch her in the net spread out beneath. However, she would not jump and stood helplessly at the window.
One fast-thinking fireman rushed to the place where the girl’s father worked and brought him quickly to the apartment. He immediately called his daughter by name, saying, “It’s Daddy, honey. Jump and we will catch you in the net.”
The little girl changed her mind immediately. She climbed out the window and jumped, where she could not see, landing safely in the net below.
What made the difference? It was trust in her father. She knew he would not ask her to do something that would harm her . . . she trusted him completely.
By dying on the cross in our place, the Lord Jesus made it possible for every person to become a child of God, learning every day to trust Him as our loving Father. The more we learn to know Him, the more we understand that He loves us and only asks us to obey Him because He knows what is best for us. The Lord Jesus tells us, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matthew 7:1111If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11)). How wonderful to trust our heavenly Father the way the little girl trusted her earthly father.
ML-05/21/1995