Jim and Holly had watched the woodchuck in their backyard for most of the summer. Some days he seemed unafraid and would come close to the house. He would sit up as though he were trying to look through the windows in the back door. Other times he would run off to hide at the slightest sound.
One afternoon Holly went to the basement to do the laundry, and who should be looking in the window at her but Mr. Woodchuck. He had fallen into the window well, and it was too deep for him to get out. He was trapped in there. He just kept frantically scratching at the window and the metal sides of the window well. He needed help to get out, but Jim and Holly were both very busy, so Mr. Woodchuck didn’t get the help he needed that day.
Have you ever needed help? There are times when children and grown-ups need help too, and if you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour you can turn to Him anytime. He always hears us, and He is never too busy to listen and help. Psalm 91:1515He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. (Psalm 91:15) encourages us: “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him.”
Two days later when Holly went to do another load of laundry (can you guess?), there was Mr. Woodchuck still in the window well. Now he was just sitting quietly as he looked through the window. Holly told Jim, “That’s it! We’ve got to help Mr. Woodchuck get out of there before it’s too late.”
Jim came up with the idea of putting a long board down into the window well to see if Mr. Woodchuck would climb up the board and get out by himself. So, that’s what they did, but when they went back a little later Mr. Woodchuck was still sitting on the bottom of the window well. They decided that he was too tired from trying to get out, and now he really needed help.
Do you know how much many of us are like poor Mr. Woodchuck? We try our own ideas of what we think will get us to heaven. We do kind deeds, go to Sunday school, and maybe even give money to missionaries. But that won’t do. We need a Saviour. We need the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, since it is our sins that will keep us out of heaven.
And Mr. Woodchuck needed someone to save him from the window well. Jim came up with a better idea. He found a 5-gallon bucket, tied a rope on it and lowered it into the window well. Using the board, Holly pushed Mr. Woodchuck into the bucket. Jim pulled the bucket up, giving Mr. Woodchuck a ride out of the window well to the freedom of the yard. Jim had set Mr. Woodchuck free from possible death in a few days.
Christ Jesus loves you and me, and He came into the world to save us, and He is ready and willing to save each sinner who comes to Him. “What must I do to be saved? . . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-3130And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30‑31)). That’s all you have to do to be set free from your sins.
Mr. Woodchuck could not thank Jim and Holly for getting him out of the window well, so he just wandered off. But if you let the Lord Jesus Christ save you from your sins, you can thank Him for dying on the cross to make it possible.
Are you free from your sins?
ML-03/28/1999