Brandon was a brave boy, but there were two things that frightened him.
One of them was the neighbor’s dogs, King and Spitz. They were always kept chained to their doghouses, but they growled and snarled whenever Brandon went near them. They weren’t nice like his dogs. Brandon was afraid of what might happen if they ever got loose and chased him through the fields and caught him. Just thinking about it would send shivers of fright down his spine.
The other thing that scared Brandon was Buttons, the pony that belonged to his sisters. If you didn’t know Buttons, you would think he was the cutest and most gentle pony around. Little, shaggy old Buttons had lots of people fooled ... but not Brandon. Buttons might have looked cute, but Brandon didn’t trust him. He wouldn’t get close to Buttons unless his father was with him. Buttons wouldn’t dare misbehave when his father was around, and Brandon knew this.
Sometimes when Brandon and his father were around Buttons, Brandon would see Buttons watching him, and he thought he knew what Buttons was thinking: You wait, little boy. One of these times you will be all alone, and I’ll catch you and teach you a lesson for being smaller than I am. Brandon’s sisters were all bigger and older than he was, and they always got along fine with Buttons.
One day when his father was in the house and his brother and sisters had gone shopping with mother, Brandon was playing with his toy trucks in the backyard. Buttons had a fenced-in corral where he was kept. Brandon didn’t think he had anything to worry about, so he was busy playing.
Suddenly, Brandon got the feeling that someone was watching him. Turning around he saw Buttons only a few feet behind him. Brandon was terrified! He quickly stood up and started walking backwards, never taking his eyes off Buttons who was walking steadily toward him. Brandon tried to call for help, but his mouth was dry and words wouldn’t come out. He kept walking backwards, not daring to run for fear he would be trampled. Then he backed up smack against the fence. Buttons had him cornered!
Buttons walked right up to Brandon (who had never been so frightened in his life), opened his mouth and bit Brandon right on the chest, ripping his shirt and scraping his skin. Then Buttons turned and walked away.
When Brandon’s father heard what had happened, he gave Buttons a good whack on the nose and put him back in the corral, firmly closing the gate that had been left open.
Buttons reminds us of Satan. Satan is our enemy, and he is always waiting to corner us one way or another. He is just watching until we let our guard down. Brandon’s father wasn’t around when Buttons cornered him and bit him. But the Lord Jesus is always there to help us right away when we have a problem. If the Lord Jesus is your Savior, you only have to call to Him and He will hear you, even if you are so scared you have lost your voice. He tells us, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver [you]” (Psalm 50:1515And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50:15)).
Wouldn’t you like to have the Lord Jesus as your Savior? You can. Just tell Him that you know you are a sinner, and trust God to forgive your sins. The Bible tells us that Jesus is a “friend of ... sinners” (Luke 7:3434The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! (Luke 7:34)). First, He loves to save sinners by forgiving their sins. Then He becomes their best Friend, taking care of them and staying close to them all of their lives. “There is a friend that [sticks] closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:2424A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)).
Messages of God’s Love 5/12/2024