The great white polar bear lumbered inland from Hudson Bay. His large padded feet made no sound as he walked over patches of snow and wind-swept dry ground with tufts of grass growing out of it. He was lean with the outline of his ribs showing through his powerful physique. Often in the dark night, he would lift his nose to the wind to catch the scent of possible prey.
He was hangry, that is, hungry and angry at the same time: hungry because he hadn’t eaten for days and angry at not being able to find his usual prey. The ice in early December had not yet frozen over his favorite hunting ground, making seals difficult to catch. Seals were the mainstay of his diet. Through the night he wandered many miles until he came to the outskirts of Fort Severn, the northernmost permanent settlement in Ontario located just below the Arctic Circle. About 500 people lived in the settlement.
Small weather-beaten homes lined dirt streets. Occasional street lamps barely illuminated the night’s darkness. The polar bear came to the edge of this town in the early morning hours of December 3, 2024.
At 5 a.m., a husky dog, who was also a house pet, scratched the front door of the Crowe house. Elaine Crowe, 47 years old, rolled out of bed and pulled a heavy robe around her to keep her warm and slid her feet into a pair of slippers. She opened the front door and the husky dog slipped out into the darkness to do its duty. She wanted to climb back into bed but waited to let the dog back in. Her husband, roused out of his sleep by the scratching, followed her out of the bedroom into the living room.
After a few minutes she opened the door to let her dog back into the house. It was a routine she had performed hundreds of times before. However, her pet was not there. Out the front door and a few steps into the yard she stepped, softly calling the name of her pet so as not to wake her neighbors. The light bulb by the front door barely illuminated a little space around the house before it was swallowed up by the surrounding darkness. Peering into the darkness looking for her dog, she was shocked to see the huge white shape of a polar bear running towards her.
TERROR IN THE NIGHT
A paroxysm of fear swept over her. She screamed, turned her back to the predator, and fell to the ground. Some bears will hesitate to attack a body lying on the ground but not polar bears. The polar bear rushed up to her prostrate body and was about to deal a death blow, when her husband came out of the house and ran to the aid of his wife.
He hadn’t anything to fight the polar bear but his bare hands. He didn’t have time to hesitate. If he didn’t act at once, the polar bear would kill his wife. He loved his wife very much and his love gave him courage. When the polar bear was about to deal a death blow to her with one of his giant paws, he leapt on its back and yelled. He tried to grab the thick fur with his hands, but the bear violently twisted his body and flung him off onto the hard ground. In a second, the polar bear turned his attack to the man. He raked the man’s arm with his long claws and bit him on the leg, nearly breaking his bone. The man fought back, flailing his arms and legs against the beast. To give up fighting was to die, and the man didn’t want to die.
Then a boom, boom, boom reverberated out of the darkness. A neighbor hearing the commotion had grabbed the shotgun by his front door and run to help. From several feet away, he fired multiple shots into the polar bear. Wounded and shocked by the turn of events, the polar bear quit his attack and ran off, disappearing into the night. He was found the next morning in a little copse of trees. He had bled to death from the shots. Tribal police heard the shots and arrived a few minutes later. The husband had huge wounds and had lost a lot of blood. They stopped the bleeding and then drove him to a medical facility where his wounds were disinfected and sewn up.
LOVE AS STRONG AS DEATH
The husband put his love in action when it came to his wife, and he stepped between her and her deadly enemy, even though it was likely to cost his life. “Love is strong as death,” a verse from the Song of Solomon reads (Song of Solomon 8:66Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. (Song of Solomon 8:6)). That is the kind of love he had for his wife.
It is also the kind of love the Lord Jesus has for all of us. When He saw us helpless and falling prey to sin, death, and the powers of darkness, He came into the world and stood between us and the enemy. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,” the Lord Jesus said, “but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:4545For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)).
He was betrayed, falsely accused, and crucified. Evil men took His hands and feet and pinioned them against a cross of wood and then drove nails through them. They stood the cross up in the air and then let it fall into a hole in the ground so it would stand upright, and then they stood back to watch Him die. At any time, He could have called to His Father in heaven and He would have sent angels to deliver Him, but this He would not do. He knew He had to die and give His life as a ransom to set men free.
Because of His death, all who believe in Jesus will receive deliverance from the powers of darkness. His truly was a love stronger than death. It is a love extended to you. When Christ died on the cross, He gave His life that you might turn from your sins and believe on the One made higher than every other. He has made eternal life possible for you. The Lord Jesus later rose from the grave and came back to life never to die again. All those who believe in Him will share in His endless life.
It is a beautiful thing when a husband loves his wife and is willing to give up his own life to protect her, and it is an astoundingly beautiful thing that God in the person of the Lord Jesus would come to earth and give His life for the life of the world. Will you believe in that love that is greater than any other and find life in His name?
Polar Bears Don’t Bluff shows another important lesson that polar bears can teach us.