At the close of a gospel address I went up and spoke to a young man who I thought seemed to be impressed by the Word, but I soon found out that he had not heard a word, for he was deaf and dumb. However, I was not hindered by that difficulty; for, knowing a little of their language, I just told him the words at the head of this article, “God loves you.”
He looked at me with a vacant stare, and shaking his head, he replied in the same manner,
“No, no, I don’t believe it; I know He hates me.”
“However can you say so?” I asked.
“I went to—church, and the preacher’s sermon was interpreted to us, and he said that “God would forever cast us into hell if we did not live holy lives, and keep His holy commandments; and ever since I heard that, I have not opened a Bible, I was so afraid, and of course I never went to that church again.”
“What did you come here for? You could not hear anything.”
“I don’t know why I came.”
“Shall I tell you?” I asked.
“If you know, you may.”
“Well, dear fellow, you were drawn by unseen Person, that you might know at ‘God loves you.’”
‘I wish that I did know it.”
“God so loved the world; that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“Herein is love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judent: because as He is, so are we in this world.”
“We love Him because He first loved us.”
Again and again he read them, and the change in his countenance was wonderful, and taking his note-book out, he wrote, “I see it all now; and, although dumb, I can praise God for the gift of Jesus.”
Dear children, are you deaf? Or have your ears been unstopped to hear the voice of the,Son of God? God loves you, and has shown that love, in giving His Son to die for you. I want you to understand this, and to make no mistake about it, that God loves you. Now give Him credit for it by just owning yourself a sinner, and let that love draw you to Himself.
ML 09/26/1943