Have you ever been covered with mud from your head to the bottom of your feet with so much mud that only your eyes were showing? Probably not, but Mudsy was.
Mudsy is a baby fox that was probably tagging along behind his mother one night when they walked across a construction site. Perhaps the young fox wasn’t watching where he was going and didn’t see the deep hole in the darkness before he fell into it.
The hole had been dug a few days earlier. Construction workers usually cover over the holes they have dug, but, sadly, this one was left uncovered. The hole was deeper than the height of a man and the sides and bottom of the hole were covered with thick, slimy mud.
Poor little fox! He must have panicked to get back to his mother. How he must have tried to jump up and dig his sharp toenails into the muddy sides of the hole, trying to climb out. But he would just fall back down into the slimy, wet muck at the bottom.
The hole was too deep with steep sides for the mother fox to jump down and rescue her little fox. Distressed, she probably pranced around the edge of the hole for a long time. Finally, she gave up and trotted off into the night, leaving her young, little fox behind. There was nothing else she could do.
Over the weekend the weather changed, and the sun came out and began to dry up all the mud, including the mud all over the little fox. The dried mud on him made him look more like a clump of dirt than an animal.
On Monday morning, a construction worker arrived at the construction site. He was about to start his big tractor to begin digging when he heard a soft, pitiful cry.
He walked to the edge of the hole and looked down. All he could see was dried mud. He got a ladder and climbed down into the hole. After a careful search, he saw a pair of beautiful little eyes in what looked like a ball of mud. He guessed it had to be a small animal.
Reaching down, he grabbed the ball of mud where he guessed the scruff of the neck must be. The little fox, weakened and frightened by his long time in the muddy hole, didn’t try to fight off the worker; he just went limp like a rag when the worker picked him up. Only when the worker held the animal up by the scruff of the neck could he tell the eyes belonged to a young fox.
He put the little fox into a cardboard box and drove to the nearest Animal Care Center. A worker at the center gently took the little fox to a large sink and carefully washed all the mud off. It took a long time to wash away the mud. Before the worker’s eyes, the ball of mud slowly became a beautiful young fox. The worker named the cute little fox “Mudsy.” For several days, the beautiful little animal stayed in the Animal Care Center before being taken to a wild animal preserve.
The dear little fox covered with mud might have died in the muddy hole if it had not been for the very alert construction worker who heard his cry and rescued him. Hopefully, someday Mudsy may be restored to the wild to live out his natural life.
Do you know that when we were covered from head to toe in sin, God did something very wonderful for us? He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to rescue us from danger. The Lord Jesus went to the cross and died in our place. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).
On the cross He suffered, bled and died so our sins could be forgiven and washed away. The Bible says, “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). What a wonderful cleanness of soul those who believe in Christ are given, because Christ died for them. Before they believed, they were all sin. After they believed, they were made the righteousness of God, and all their sins were forgiven.
Some boys and girls might think it would be fun to be covered with mud. Mud can be a lot of fun in some ways. It might even be fun to wash it off with a hose. But there is nothing nice about being covered with sins, and you can’t wash them off. Sin is hurtful and hateful and leads to eternal death and hell. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. He wants sinners to come to Him to have their sins forgiven. There is no other way to be saved from your sins. Accepting the Lord Jesus as your Savior is the only way.
That little fox couldn’t climb out of the hole and save himself, and neither can you and I climb out of the pit of sin and save ourselves. “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:88For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)).
ML-03/26/2017