Many years ago, two missionary friends lived in China. One, Dr. Huizenga, was in charge of a hospital for leprosy patients, as well as a tuberculosis hospital. One day he called his friend, Mr. Willis, to say he had noticed that one of Mr. Willis’s neighbors had two tiny pigs for sale. He needed them for eating up garbage scraps from his two hospitals. He wondered, Would Mr. Willis buy them for him?
Mr. Willis agreed, but he told him that he needed to have someone come and get them right away, or they would be stolen, as he lived in an area where there were a lot of thieves. The doctor agreed to this, and Mr. Willis bought the pigs. One of the doctor’s helpers came on his bicycle, but he could only take one pig at a time. He took one away and promised to come back for the other. But he did not arrive, and night came on. Mr. Willis didn’t know what to do. He decided to put the remaining little pig in a small brick building a little way from his house. The building had become a general dump for all kinds of rubbish, and it seemed a good spot for the pig to spend the night.
The pig had come to Mr. Willis with a necktie securely tied around his middle, with a rope tied to that. Mr. Willis tied this rope to a leg of an old table stored in the shed, put a padlock on the door and hoped for the best.
The next morning, he went out early to see how “piggy” had survived. A thief had been there, for the padlock was off and lying on the ground by the door, which was open. The rope and necktie were still there, but there was no sign of any little pig. So he called Dr. Huizenga and told him the pig had been stolen. He took it well, and they thought that was the end of the little pig.
But later in the day, Mr. Willis was passing by the shed, and there was the little pig! He had apparently slipped out of his necktie, crawled to the back of the shed, behind the garbage, and gone to sleep. When the thief arrived for him, he must have thought that some other thief had got in first, so he left without the pig.
Who saved the little pig for the missionary that needed him? The Lord did! He says in the Bible, “Seek ... first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:3333But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)). The Lord doesn’t always keep bad things from happening, but He loves to show us His care and to meet the needs of His people. Do you know Him as your own Savior?
Messages of God’s Love 1/15/2023