The station wagon was filled with happy boys as their leader carefully steered around the mountain curves. The group was headed for a late summer outing in the mountains.
“Oh no,” the leader announced, “I think I’ve missed the turn for the lunch spot I had planned. How about if we stop in the wide turnout at the side of the road ahead? Anybody hungry?”
The answer was a deafening “YES!” These boys all lived in the city and rarely came to the beautiful mountains. The car could hardly contain their excitement. No sooner had the wheels stopped than four boys, three in their early teen years, burst out into the sunshine, looking for adventure.
“Hey, Mickey, look at that waterfall down there!” yelled Bud. “Let’s go!”
Ignoring the calls to wait, the four boys foolishly plunged down the bank for a closer look. Like some of the boys and girls of today, they were thinking only of pleasure for the moment and didn’t pay attention to their leader’s warning. Their attitude was, “Have your fun and worry later!”
The four boys, skidding recklessly down the steep bank, realized too late that there was a sharp drop below ... and the bottom was rocks, icy water and the “cool” waterfall. Furthermore, it was a long way down. They clawed in vain for something to grab that might stop their plunge. “My whole life—my sins anyway—flashed across my mind, and I really prayed,” Bud confided later. Two of the boys managed to slide in a curve, helping to slow themselves, but that was not the case with Mickey and Scott.
The other boys and the leader were still back at the car fixing lunch. They were not aware of the trouble that Mickey, Scott, Bud and Joel had gotten themselves into. When lunch was ready and the four were not back yet, it was decided to eat without them.
Bud and Joel didn’t appear until lunch things were being packed away. White-faced and solemn, they reported their fall. They said, “Mickey can’t seem to walk, and Scott is groggy, but maybe a sandwich might help ... . “
It was then that our friend in charge looked over the bank and gasped. “I think I’d better call for help. There’s no way I could go down there!”
The nearest fire department soon arrived. Excited but relieved, the boys thought the problem was solved. However, the firemen soon came back up and reported, “The one boy has a broken leg, and it’s too steep for us to bring him out. We’ll have to lift him from above,” was the fireman’s serious report. They radioed for a “chopper.”
The little troop of boys and their leader grouped together for prayer. Never had they all been so deeply concerned.
Again we are reminded of those who madly rush after sinful pleasures, until perhaps they run into serious trouble. Maybe they make some promises to God and try to be “good” for a while, but then soon forget them. The sinner is helpless to get free from Satan’s grasp by his own power. No, help must come from above. How good it is to read in the Bible that God’s ears are open unto our cries for mercy. “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)). “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)).
God, looking down, saw our desperate need and sent His own beloved Son to lift us from the pit of sin. Just as the helicopter later carefully lifted our injured friend Mickey from the dangerous rocks, our blessed Saviour made Himself fully responsible to lift us up and away from Satan’s grasp. He did this by taking the punishment for our guilty sins upon His own pure self and enduring God’s wrath against them. Now the saved sinner can say, “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay” (Psalm 40:22He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:2)).
Are you on that fatal slide to the pit of hell, or have you taken the lifeline from above—Jesus, the Son of God?
ML-09/05/2010