Linda listened with wide opened eyes as Mr. Hill told the sad story of how the people of Israel turned their backs on God and worshiped the golden calf. In her mind she could picture that great calf of gold and the people bowing down before it.
The next day on her way to the store Linda was startled. Stopping suddenly in front of the dairy bar she stared in horror! There in the window stood a large glittering image of a calf advertising dairy products. Inside the dairy bar and behind the counter stood Mrs. Williams all unaware of the thoughts that were passing through the head of the small girl standing in front of her window.
Then the small girl with blazing eyes burst into the store and cried, “You mustn’t worship the golden calf!”
Mrs. Williams stood staring in amazement at the small girl, but Linda continued: “God wants you to love and worship Him! You mustn’t worship the golden calf! Honestly, you mustn’t!” Then suddenly Linda was overcome with shyness and shame and ran out the door and down the street.
When Mrs. Williams realized what the little girl had been thinking about, she had a hearty laugh, but owing to her busy life she soon forgot all about the incident.
Mrs. Williams was a clever business woman, and her dairy prospered. She became wealthy. She owned dairy bars in other nearby towns and “Countryside Dairies” became a well-known and respected firm in that part of the country. She sold her house in the town and bought a mansion in the country. She believed that money was the most important thing in the world; nevertheless she was a lonely woman. Her husband died, and then her days seemed more empty than ever.
Mrs. Williams never listened to sermons, but one specially lonely day she heard over the air a broadcast and the subject of the sermon was “The Golden Calf!”
Suddenly it came back to Mrs. Williams — slowly — dimly — then clearly — the funny little girl with the earnest face, bursting into the store that day so many years ago. She sat up and thought very deeply.
“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” continued the preacher.
Mrs. Williams saw now the reason for her loneliness and disappointment in life, in spite of all her money. She had forgotten God! She had worshiped the golden calf of money and success!
God spoke to her lonely heart and this time she listened. Alone with Him, she humbly got down on her knees and trusted in Christ, the Saviour of sinners.
“Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
ML-12/11/1977