Memory Verse: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roar
Most of the summer work on the farm was finished. Now there was a little break before harvest would begin. Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson decided this would be the time to take their four children on a little camping trip. Spring and summer on the farm were always such busy times. It would be so nice for the family to rest and relax for a while before harvest and school would both begin. Mr. and. Mrs. Donaldson also felt it would be a good time for the family to spend extra time reading the Bible. They would remind their children again of how important it was that each one of them accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his own Saviour. Each of the children knew that they had sinned many times and that God could not allow even one sin to enter heaven. Each one had memorized Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7), “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"... but did each one really believe it for himself? Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson weren’t really sure. And with school to begin soon, they wanted to remind them again that they needed to “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:1111Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11). This would help to strengthen them for the coming school year. They knew that their children would need the keeping power of the Lord Jesus to see them through the year. How well they knew that the devil is so busy trying to tempt young people and children. “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8).
They found a lovely place to set up their pop-up camper. The camping area had a nice cool woods to explore and a sparkling lake for the children to swim in. They all pitched in to help set up camp in a site that had its own picnic table.
By evening Mrs. Donaldson noticed she wasn’t feeling well. She decided she would sleep in the station wagon. In that way she would not have to disturb anyone if she had to get up during the night.
She didn’t sleep very well, so when it started to get light she decided to take a little walk. When she came back she thought she would get back in the car and maybe get a little more sleep. Closing the car door, she suddenly saw a large, black bear looking in one of the windows. It must have been following her. It put both front paws on the car window and was staring at her with its little, beady eyes.
Mrs. Donaldson was not only surprised, she was terribly frightened! She shut her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to look at it, and prayed that the awful bear would just go away and not bother them.
But the big, black bear didn’t go away; he wandered on over to the picnic table. Mrs. Donaldson nervously watched as he dumped a bucket of water over. Then he scattered a box of their dishes all over the ground. He sniffed around the barbecue grill. Then he began to dig into a box of her good plastic containers.
That was just too much for her to take! That bear must not get into that box of good things. She quickly jumped out of the car and began to scream as loudly as she could. “Harold! Harold! Help! Help!” she yelled. “There’s a bear out here tearing up everything!”
Mr. Donaldson dashed out of the camper and began to yell at the bear. The children started to cry and scream and ran to the safety of the car. They quickly climbed in with their mother and locked all the doors. But there stood their father very much alone with that big bear!
The bear scrambled up the nearest tree. Mr. Donaldson picked up a large stone and threw it at the bear, at the same time yelling at the top of his voice. The bear jumped to another tree to get away from the stone attack as Mr. Donaldson threw more stones at him, ordering the bear to go away. Back and forth the bear jumped from tree to tree. Mr. Donaldson was pitching stones and yelling, and the bear was jumping. It was quite a sight to watch from inside the car. Finally, the bear climbed down and ran away into the woods as fast as he could go.
The rest of the family fixed a quick breakfast, but Mrs. Donaldson would not come out of the car for hers. They had to pass it to her through the window. Mrs. Donaldson managed to get a little sleep while Mr. Donaldson and the children cleaned up the campsite. As they worked they talked about the intruding bear. They all agreed that it had been a very scary time to be sure, but soon they were able to laugh at themselves and at the bear jumping back and forth between those two trees, doing his best to avoid the stones being thrown at him. They all agreed that that was one camping trip they would never forget.
That bear certainly was an enemy of the Donaldson’s. Using a few rocks as his only weapons and with no other protection, Mr. Donaldson resisted the bear. But God was good to him and the bear ran away without charging him. We, too, have an enemy to resist. Our enemy, Satan, is far greater, stronger and more clever than a bear. To resist Satan we must be sure to put on the whole armor of God and only use the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, as a weapon. Satan is too clever and strong for us without God’s protecting armor and care.
ML-08/14/1988