In the mountains around Lake Leland, Washington, a mother deer sensed danger. Her keen hearing had picked up a slight rustling of branches. Her twin fawns were immediately alerted by their mother’s tenseness. She turned and saw a stalking cougar many yards off. In an instant, the three deer bounded off down the mountainside.
The cougar charged and, after a short chase, knew he had missed his prey. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then followed them, using his sense of smell to track the deer down the mountainside.
With all the wariness of a wild animal, the mother deer sensed the cougar would follow them. Her instinct told her that she and her fawns had to flee a great distance to escape the danger. The three deer zigzagged down the timbered mountainside, sprinting and then walking. However, her fawns were becoming tired and needed to rest.
At the foot of the mountain, a few ranches were built around Lake Leland. The mother deer was wary of humans and their homes. Her instincts told her that they could be dangerous, but she sensed a much greater danger was stalking them.
The three deer came to a fenced pasture where several riding horses were grazing in tall grass. A ranch house was a short distance away from the pasture.
The mother deer leaped over the barbed wire fence, while her fawns squeezed under the bottom strand of wire. The three then went to the center of the pasture and began to graze near the horses. The mother deer must have sensed that being near the horses would provide some protection against the cougar.
Have you found a place of safety by trusting in the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of sinners? The world you live in is full of real dangers. Satan, an unseen spirit, continually tries to lead souls to destruction. He does all he can to keep souls in the dark about their need of salvation so that they end up for eternity in that awful place called hell. He will certainly do all he can to keep children from obeying the gospel call for them to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus.
Also, God’s wrath against sin awaits every person who has not settled the matter of his sins with God. In His holiness, God cannot let sin go unpunished. Unless a sinner repents of his sins and flees to the Lord Jesus for safety, it is certain that God’s wrath will burst in awful judgment on him. Oh, that every boy or girl who hasn’t found safety by the Saviour’s side would “flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:77But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)) and come to the Lord Jesus at once. God’s wrath is a fearful thing and a real danger. Even though He loves sinners, He hates their sins. The same God who says He “so loved the world” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)) says, “The soul that [sins], it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:44Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)).
Each one of us can find safety in the Saviour, because He died in the sinner’s place. “God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:89).
When boys and girls come to the Lord Jesus for salvation, they will belong to Him forever. He will watch over them and bless them. He will be much more careful of them than any mother deer could ever be of her fawns.
Later that evening, the cougar, following the deer’s scent, crept to the pasture. Soundlessly, he slipped beneath the bottom strand of wire in the fence. The tall grass and dusky light concealed him almost perfectly. He was creeping closer to the deer when one of the horses suddenly spotted him. With a snort and whinny of fear, the horse began to race around the pasture. Alerted by the horse, the mother deer and her fawns attempted to flee. Running as fast as she could, the mother ran into the barbed wire fence, which she hadn’t seen in the darkness. The fence made a loud twanging noise as she hit it.
The whinnies of the horses and the twanging of the barbed wire aroused the owner of the ranch who was sitting in her front yard. She knew immediately there was trouble in her pasture and started running in that direction. On the way she picked up a big stick.
The owner entered the pasture through the gate and ran into the tall grass. She saw the three deer standing by the fence and the horses running. At first, she didn’t know what had caused the commotion. Then she turned around and saw the cougar about fifteen feet behind her. It snarled angrily at her and let out one of its eerie screams. It sent shivers of fright down her spine and, for a moment, she didn’t know whether to flee or fight.
Just then, the owner’s favorite riding horse ran to where the cougar crouched. Whinnying loudly, she reared up on her hind legs with her front hooves pawing the air before they came crashing to the ground a few feet away from the cougar. Wanting nothing to do with those flying hooves, the cougar ran off into the night.
The owner credited her horse with saving her from the snarling cougar. What an amazing rescue!
Everyone who has been saved by the Lord Jesus knows that they too have been rescued in a truly amazing way. They know that God, in amazing grace and love, sent His Son into this world for this very reason. The creator of the universe became a man and let Himself be nailed to a tree so that all people might come to Him and find forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Truly, nothing is so amazing in the entire world as the truth contained in the Bible verse, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3)). When He died, He bore the punishment for the sins of all those who would believe on Him.
If you have not yet been saved, won’t you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Placing your faith in Him is the only way you can be rescued from sin and danger. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that [believes] on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)).
ML-11/16/2003