His Children

Reading:  Romans 8; Psalm 72

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.  (Romans 8:18-19 NLT)

Princess Eve, the King’s oldest daughter, was kidnapped from the palace by an evil witch. The Kingdom was in an uproar as a fruitless search was made of every town and village, every farm, every forest camp. The princess was gone!

Nearly ten years later, Sir Andrew, the King’s most trusted aide, was passing through a dismal little town near the southern border of the Kingdom. As he watered his horse at the well in the town square, a raggedly-dressed girl came to the well for water. She was dirty and bruised and walked with her shoulders slumped and her head down, yet there was something, just a hint of dignity in her walk and her manner.

Sir Andrew called her to him and asked her name and where she lived. She shyly replied, in the local accent, “My name is Sadie. I’m an orphan. I belong to the wealthy man who owns the bank in this town.” “Give me your hand, Sadie,” Andrew said. He took her hand and pushed back her sleeve and there on her forearm was the heart-shaped birthmark that confirmed to him she was really Princess Eve!

Sir Andrew took her from the dismal little town and within two days she was back in the palace. It took weeks for Princess Eve to become healthy again. It took even longer for her to learn to trust, to smile, to realize she was safe now from the abuse she had suffered. 

But what a glorious day it was when at last the King called a national holiday and brought Princess Eve out on the palace balcony for all the people to see! Then, at last, the story could be told, that Sadie the slave was really Eve the Princess and that she was home, safe at last!

Prayer:

Father, Thank you that, in spite of our years as “orphans” and slaves, we really are your children. Thank you for rescuing us and bringing us home. Thanks for being so patient with us as we slowly learn to hold our heads up, look you in the eye, and think, speak, and behave like Princes and Princesses. It’s who we really are! Amen.