One bright, summer afternoon two young men, Charles and Walter, were clambering carefully down a steep mountain trail near Pikes Peak. They had not known each other long, having only recently met at a vacation resort in Colorado. As they rounded a curve, they discovered the entrance to a cave. Boards were nailed across the entrance, and over it hung a large sign: “DANGER! KEEP OUT!”
Charles stopped and tried to see between the boards into the darkness of the cave beyond. “I would like to explore this cave,” he said excitedly. “Will you go with me?”
“No way,” replied Walter, and he tried hard to persuade Charles not to do anything so dangerous. But Charles was determined.
At the foot of the trail Charles obtained a lantern, said “Good-bye” to his new friend, and returned to the cave. He lit the lantern, and, pushing aside the barriers, he scrambled into the dark cave. At first the light from his lantern hardly made any impression on the dense darkness, but slowly his eyes became more accustomed to the blackness. Now he could just see jagged rocks and walls and a path leading back into the cave. He walked very carefully along the path. For a time all was well, and then suddenly he stepped off the end of the path into space. Down, down, down he fell. Landing at the bottom, he was knocked unconscious!
When Charles came to, he found himself bruised and sore. His lantern was smashed to pieces, so he was now in thick darkness. In his pocket he found a few matches, which he struck one by one, only to have them flicker and go out. From their feeble glimmer he could see the cliff over which he had fallen. He could tell it would be impossible to climb back up. Trembling with cold and terror, and with fear of falling again, he crawled carefully along on his hands and knees until his trousers were worn through and his knees were bleeding. He felt sure that he would be there until he died.
As he remembered these verses, the sins of his life came before him. He cried to God and accepted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.
Peace now filled his heart. Still, he was in a terrible situation, but he decided to keep moving as long as his strength lasted. He had no idea of the passage of time as he painfully dragged himself over rocks and stones. He thought of his mother, and, finding a piece of paper and a pencil in his pocket, he scribbled a note to her as best he could in the darkness. He told her not to mourn but to rejoice, because this dreadful experience had been the means of bringing him to his blessed Saviour. He wrote that he was happy in the thought of soon being with Him. He gave her address, asking that his body be sent to her.
Still creeping wearily about, he felt a rope which he followed with wondering hope until he noticed... fresh air! On he went with more hope. Then a pale glimmer of light appeared, which gradually became brighter and brighter until, at last, he reached an opening and came out overjoyed into the brilliant sunshine. It was noon. He had entered the cave at 4:00 the previous afternoon.
When Charles was picked up by a search party, he was ragged, bleeding, dirty and weak. He soon recovered from his terrible ordeal, but the change in his heart could never be erased. For in that dark cave God had met him and turned him from “darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Acts 26:1818To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18).
You may never fall into a dark cave. You may go to Sunday school or church each Sunday, but if you don’t have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you are in as much darkness as Charles was in our story. Like him, you need to be turned from the darkness of your sin into the true light found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Won’t you accept Him as your Saviour right now?
ML-12/05/1982