I once worked w/ a guy who told me of a funny experience he’d had over the previous weekend. It seems that my friend, a young teen named Don, was riding his bike around his family’s property, pistol in hand, shooting rats around the outside of the house. At one point, the little obnoxious dog owned by the lady who lived next door started to chase Don while he was riding around, jumping up at him, attempting to bite him on the heels.
Well, Don had had enough, so he took a couple shots near the dog, w/ his pistol, in order to try to scare the dog off. But after 2 or 3 shots, his aim was too true, and one of those bullets hit the dog, killing him. Don freaked. He figured that the neighbor lady, when she found out what he did, would kill him. So he got off the bike, picked up the dead dog, threw it in some nearby bushes, then started to ride back over to his family’s house. But, he started to feel guilty about what had happened, and he decided to go back over to the lady’s house, fess up to accidentally killing her dog, & apologize to her.
Yet as he got off his bike & started walking up her front porch steps, he began to chicken out. He figured that, instead of accepting his apology, the woman would end up having his head on a platter. So he turned around, started back down the steps, got on his bike, & started to ride away.
But his conscience got the best of him, and he decided he really did need to go see this lady & apologize, face to face. He did get back as far as the bottom of her front porch steps again, but then thought to himself, “If I don’t confess to her, she’ll never know what happened to the dog. She’ll think it ran off.” So he started to leave to go back home once more.
However, once again, his conscience got the best of him, and he decided he HAD to go confess & apologize. So he turned his bike around, got to the bottom of the woman’s front porch steps, got off his bike, walked up the steps & knocked on the door.
Well, the lady came to the door & greeted Don, and he explained to her the heart-breaking story of how he came to accidentally kill her dog. After his story, he stood there, expecting her to body-slam him, in anger, to the porch floor and pound him to pieces for having killed her dog. He said she got this weird look on her face, raised her hands above her head, & started to jump up & down on the porch. He thought to himself, “Uh, oh. Here it comes…”
But, he said, the woman burst out laughing, and then right away said to him, “Thank you! Thank you for killing that STUPID dog!” Don said he stuttered & said to her, “Uh, what?” She said, “Thank you for killing that dumb dog.” Then, she continued to explain: “That dog never really belonged to me – it was just a stray that kept hanging around my house, and it was always creating problems for me – getting into my trash, making messes on my yard & porch, and barking at all hours of the night. I was trying to think of a way to get rid of it, but I didn’t have the heart to kill it myself, so you solved the problem for me. Thank you!” Don then said to me, “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that turned out pretty well.'”
The Bible says in Luke 15:8-10, “Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins, & loses one of them. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house & search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends & neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me – I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'”
Now, let’s be clear, here. The Bible isn’t saying here that God is happy about it when we sin, not at all. In fact, when we DO sin, it grieves Him. But when we fall under conviction for our sin, & we go to Him in prayer, honestly & sincerely repenting for it, that truly pleases Him, and He & the angels rejoice.
Three In One 