Late in the day, someone gave me an urgent message to deliver to my neighbour. He had called on my neighbour but nobody answered the door so he wrote the message down, put it in an envelope, and begged me to deliver it for him. He said it was really urgent.
Next morning I went to the front door and knocked. No reply. I knocked again. And again. Still no reply so I followed the side path to the back of the house and knocked on the back door.
“Are you there?” I called. No reply. I knew my neighbour was at home because the car was there so I went down into the vegetable garden, on into the orchard, up to the door of the shed, back to the garage, all the time calling out to my neighbour.
The further I went, the higher my voice rose because the message was urgent.
Finally, I knocked on the back door again calling out “Are you there?” as loudly as I could.
After a long delay, shuffling footsteps padded towards the door. “What’s all the fuss about?” came an annoyed question through the closed door and I answered, “I have an urgent message for you. It’s from a traveller who was going through last night but you were out. He wrote it down for me to give you and said it was urgent. Please let me give it to you!”
“Slip it under the door,” replied my neighbour wearily. “I’m not dressed and it is too early for a visit. Come back later,” and the footsteps shuffled away.
Who do you think is knocking on our door, the volume rising dramatically to get our attention? Who do you think is calling out through drought, flood, storm, fire, grasshopper plague, volcano, earthquake and tsunami all over the world?
Is it not the One who said ‘Behold, I come quickly’ in Revelation 22:7, after he said, ‘As many as I love I rebuke and chasten …Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and will open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him,’ Revelation 3:19,20.
I slipped the letter under the door praying it would be opened in time for supper.
Elizabeth Price