He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. Psalm 91:15

When I was young, I always wanted a dog like Lassie.

It seemed it would be a good thing to have a dog with whom you could discuss physics, philosophy, and human psychology.

Then, as I grew older, I came to the conclusion such a dog didn’t exist. Oh, our family almost always had a dog, and they were smart, and they all thought they were one of the family, but none of them could do calculus as Lassie seemed to be able to do.

This is why I was interested when I heard about a dog in Macungie, Pennsylvania. His owner had brought Max, her chocolate-colored lab, on a shopping expedition. She left him in the car on a 90-degree day. It was a foolish thing to do, but she knew she was coming right back.

And she did. She did come right back, but she forgot Max was in the car. She walked away to do some other things. She didn’t get too far before she heard the horn on her car honking. She looked, but since she could see nothing, she assumed she had been mistaken.

The honking continued . . . And continued . . . And continued.

It was only then she remembered and raced back to rescue Max. Now, I know that for most of our Daily Devotion readers there is no point in me going on unless I tell them that Max is doing just fine. Still, I was impressed. Max knew what he had to do to get rescued.

This is something that can’t be said for a lot of people. Most folks think they are just fine, when they’re not. Many people think they can get along on their own, but they can’t. A goodly share of the world’s individuals think they can rescue themselves. That’s an impossibility.

In short, Max is smarter than they are. Max knew if he was to be rescued, he needed help — as does humanity. We cannot, by our own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him.

If we are to be rescued it will only be because the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel. The Holy Spirit needs to get the credit for saving us.

And we, like Max, should be grateful for what our Master has done to save us and win our salvation.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today I pray for the many folks in the world who don’t understand that their eternal life is not dependent upon their good works or their thoughtful deeds. Help them see, if they are going to be saved, it will only be because they have been given faith in the rescue You have begun and finished. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Pastor Ken Klaus Lutheran Hour Ministries http://www.lhm.org/ all rights reserved; not to be duplicated without permission.