JOE WAS a born leader, and things he said and did often impressed the young boys he played around with. One day he declared emphatically, “I’m not afraid of the devil!” And as to hell, well, he wasn’t scared of that either. In fact, he said, “I’m not so sure that there is one!” With that Joe swaggered off leaving a bad impression on the minds of some of his young friends.
Joe’s parents were dear Christians and they were deeply grieved that their boy had no interest in the Saviour they loved.
One night, not long after making his proud boast, Joe was out looking for some stray cows. It was during a thunderstorm and where should he find them but in the old cemetery next to the church. It was hard to round up the cows in the dark and guide them home, so he was glad of a flash of lightning now and then so he could see where he was going. Then one cow, more contrary than the others, took off in another direction and Joe swore as he rushed after her.
Suddenly he felt the ground disappear underneath his feet and he was launched into mid air! Down, down, down he went! A great horror took hold of him—he thought he was falling straight down into hell. He remembered the swear words he had just uttered, and the proud boast made to his friends, and he felt that God in judgment had opened the mouth of hell, the bottomless pit, at his very feet.
It all happened in a moment of time! Then his feet struck the boom and the fear of Satan adding impetus to his motions, he managed to scramble out of the hole almost as fast as he went in.
The next day Joe learned that he had fallen into a freshly dug grave, not yet used. The mystery was solved but the experience sobered Joe not a little. He discovered that he was afraid of the devil and that deep down in his soul he did believe in hell, but he was not at all willing to go there.
The experience he had that stormy night was God’s way of preparing his heart for the good news of the gospel, how that the Lord Jesus loved him, had died for him, sinner as he was, both to deliver him from Satan’s power and to save him from going to hell. Joe found out how real the Lord Jesus was and how great His salvation. How happy his father and mother were when he told them the Lord Jesus had saved him. And he was a humbler, happier Joe from then on.
ML-05/23/1976