IN a comfortable room, and seated on a hassock before a cheerful fire, a little girl five years of age might one day have been seen with a very serious look upon her face.
What can make so tiny a child look so solemn, shall we try to find out? Is she well cared for? Yes, certainly, kind parents and friends attend to every want; and love her dearly.
Is she in pain or disgrace? Neither; yet there she sits, gazing intently into the fire quite lost in deep thought.
She is, however, pressing closely to her a much-loved doll, holding it very tightly as if afraid of losing it, while in her other hand she holds a nicely bound gilt-edged Bible. It’s quite a new one, and she is very proud of it, and has shown it to everybody in the house as the gift of her dear father and mother on her fifth birthday just past. What is more, it had long been promised her for that day, if by that time she could read pretty well. So it had been like winning a prize as well, and now as she sits there she really has it for her very own to keep. Now, dear children, would you ever have guessed that it is something the little girl has just found in her beautiful new Bible that has made her look so grave and thoughtful? It is the last verse in the First Epistle of John, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” That word “idols” has fixed her attention, and she is saying softly to herself, “Does that mean the same as dolls, I wonder! It sounds something like it’s “idols”; perhaps it does—it sounds like dolls, only there is that funny i in front of it, and only one l at the end. But then idols are those ugly things I have been told that the poor heathen people fall down before and worship, great images and such things. O, besides, this good apostle John is talking to little children I think and not to heathen people at all, and it sounds just as if he meant little children ought not to have any dollies. O, dear! how could I give up my dear little Susie! Yet if the Lord Jesus told His servant John to say so, I must.
Supposing the Lord Jesus Himself came into this room, and told me to throw my dolly into the fire, because it was not right for me to love it so, I would do it directly, because I love Him better than anybody or anything. Of course I would do it if He told me, but, O, it would be dreadful! “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Yes, there it is plain enough—what does it mean? I wish I knew. Suddenly a bright thought struck the little one. Why not run and ask dear mother about it, she would be sure to know, and would tell me at once; how silly of me not to think of that before. Away she ran, and acted upon the idea without loss of time.
How glad she felt soon after that she had done so, for very lovingly and simply her kind mother set matters right for her. She told her that the word “idols” certainly did not mean little girls’ dolls, which were quite proper playthings for them, and which the Lord Jesus would like them to enjoy, for He loves to see children happy, and to bless them now just as much as He ever did when walking down here among them, and when kindly calling them to run into His own arms of love. “Idols” meant anything and everything which came between the heart and God. If anybody, whether man, woman, boy or girl, loved anything better and more than they loved God, that thing (no matter what it was, self, riches, houses, beauty, learning, pleasure), that thing was an “idol,” and the verse meant that we were to watch ourselves that we did not make idols of anything by loving them best, and most of all.
So the little girl was quite relieved, and happy once more, and for some years after enjoyed both her Bible and her doll.
This simple story seems to put one in mind of another verse of Scripture: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” (James 1:55If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5).) Let me then beg of you, my dear little readers, to “ask of God,” in any difficulty, just as this child asked of her mother, whom she knew to be wiser than herself. You may not all of you have dear mothers to run to in every trouble, but all of you have a God and Father in heaven, who is ever wise, kind and good, and who always hears us when we go to Him in trouble.
Let us take counsel from this dear little girl, and be willing to obey God’s Word, no matter what we may think it will cost us. He will never tell us to do anything that would not be for our good, and we must remember He is wiser than we are, and knows what is best.
“Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, for Thou art the God of my salvation.” (Ps. 25:4, 5.)
ML 07/30/1916