Little Joe, Part 4.
I told you how Joe heard for the first time of God’s love and of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, when upon the cross He bore the punishment of sin, not only the sin of one or two, but the sin of all those who believe the glad and blessed news. For six weeks Joe lived in the little log cabin, and every day he heard something more about Jesus. On Sunday he could hear a great deal, because there was no work to do, so he spent all the long afternoon sitting on a little stool, made of a log of wood, and covered with the skin of a musk-rat, while his kind friend told him story after story about Jesus, and all the wonderful things He did in this world; how he gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf; how He raised the dead, and cured the sick, and fed the hungry multitudes with bread in the desert place. It was all new to Joe, and his heart went out in love to the One, who had done so much for him, and he began to long that his sisters and little brother might hear the good news too.
One Sunday he went home to see them all, and Miss Brown gave him some little picture tracts to take to the children. He was very much pleased. “They never had a present before,” he said. It made Miss Brown feel quite sad to think of these poor little children, and she longed to go and see them, and teach them about the Lord Jesus, but the only road open to the place where they lived was 15 miles, and she could not go so far.
“Is there no other road?” she asked her brother. “Yes,” he said, “there is a way; if you could go directly to the spot, it is only 5 miles; but the road leads through thick woods, and a long swamp, and you could not go alone.”
The winter was coming on, with its deep snow and bitter winds, and Joe went away again, this time not to return.
But all through the long winter his friend thought about him, and many, many times she prayed for the poor little children, who had never had a present, and who knew nothing of that “unspeakable gift” which God has given, the gift of His only begotten Son. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to go to God, as to a gracious Father, and to tell Him all we desire, knowing He hears us, and delights to answer us.
A little boy said to me the other day, “How can God hear so many people speaking to Him at once?” That little boy did not know how great, and mighty, and infinite, God is. He, who by the word of His power made the glorious sun, marks when a little sparrow falls to the ground, and He also listens to the cry of even the youngest child, who comes to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. But, dear children, it is one tiling to kneel down and repeat a few hurried words, which we have learned by heart, while our thoughts are wandering far away, and it is another thing to come to God, with a real need, a real want, which we feel only God can grant. “He filleth the hungry with good things, but the rich He bath sent empty away.” Are you “rich,” or are you “hungry.”
ML 05/27/1906