Bible Reading: Psalm 139:1-12; 1 John 1:9
Maya and her little brother River watched ants scurry up and down the tiny tunnels in her ant farm. "Look!" said River, pointing to one of the ants. "What is that one carrying?" After a moment, he added, "And why is that one digging a new tunnel? Oh! Is that one cleaning up? Did God make ants too?"
"So many questions!" teased Maya. "Yes, God made ants too."
"Are these ants just like the ones outside?" asked River.
"I guess so. I'd say they're cousins, at least." Maya stood up. "I have to go study, but you can keep watching my ants. Just don't touch the ant farm."
A little while later, Maya heard River run outside. Minutes later, she heard the screen door slam and River scurried by on his way to his room. When she went to check on him, he was lying on the bed with his head under the pillow. It was the way River had tried to hide when he was younger. "River, I see you," said Maya. "What happened? Why are you hiding in your bed?"
Slowly, River pulled his head from under the pillow. "I wanted to show your ants to their cousins outside, but I dropped the ant farm," he said. "It broke, and some of the ants ran away." Tears ran down the little boy's cheeks. "I didn't want you to see!"
"Oh, River!" Maya sighed. "Well, you might have hidden it from me, but you know God sees everything you do. You can't hide from Him. Just like you could see everything the ants did in their ant farm, God always sees you and everything you do."
"I'm really sorry!" cried River.
"I know, and I forgive you," said Maya. "And you know what? God will forgive you too. Instead of trying to hide our wrongs from Him, the Bible says to confess them to Jesus and He will forgive us. He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, so we don't ever have to hide."
River smiled. "I'm glad Jesus always forgives us."
"Me too," said Maya. "Now let's go and pick up what's left of the ant farm."
–Daryl B. Knauer
How About You?