It was at a mission school in India. A kind Christian lady had gathered many little brown-skinned native girls around her and was teaching them to read and write. But, best of all, she taught them the story of God’s love in sending His dear Son down into this world to save sinners. It was her desire that her little pupils should come to know Him as their own Saviour. She loved them very much, and they loved her too; they called her Mother.
There was one little girl named Joy, who had spread her mat on the brick floor in the lady’s cottage and gone to sleep there for the night. Suddenly in the stillness of the night hours all in the mission home were awakened by a wild cry. The missionary lady jumped out of bed to find little Joy was gone. Then outside in the light of the moon she could see a tiger clawing at something at his feet. Bravely seizing a big stick which she always kept nearby, and with the help of her flashlight, the house mother ran screaming as loud as she could toward the great beast. The tiger, frightened for the moment, ran across the yard and disappeared into a sugar cane field.
Soon the mission was alive with lights and loud voices. The gardener and the watchman and the girls came running to the mother who was holding little Joy in her arms. She told of how the little girl had been carried off and clawed by the tiger.
At the mission hospital the doctors and nurses worked hard to save the life of little Joy.
All were afraid the tiger was still hiding in the sugar cane and that he would come back again the next night. So in the mission school they prayed that the Lord would help them to kill their great enemy. In the afternoon the girls came out to the cane field, each carrying a tin pan. They made a line across the field, while a man with a gun stood at the other end. The signal was given and all the girls shouted as loud as they could and beat on their tin pans. The tiger suddenly woke up where he was and, frightened by the noise, ran through the sugar cane out into the open, straight toward the man with the gun. All prayed that God would help the man shoot the tiger before he hurt anyone else.
There was a loud BANG! and the great beast leaped into the air with a roar. Then he rolled over on the ground; and that was the end of Mr. Tiger.
Most of our readers have no need to fear of being carried off by a tiger. Yet we have a far worse enemy in Satan, the enemy of our souls who, “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Pet. 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). He may come “as a roaring lion,” or he may come “as an angel of light.” In either case he seeks only to destroy, to cause us to perish, and only the Lord Jesus can save and protect us from his power. He is the only refuge from so great an enemy.
“Jesus alone, Jesus alone,
Jesus alone can save.”
ML 09/03/1967