“Look at Betsy! That mean old ram is chasing her around the barn again!” called Alice. Joan came running to see. Around and around the barn ran the old milk cow Betsy with the ram at her heels.
“Who does that old ram think he is, anyway, the boss of the barnyard? And why are they all so afraid of him? Betsy is lots bigger than he is. Catch me running away from him!” exclaimed Joan indignantly.
Alice turned laughingly to her six-year-old sister, Joan. “So you’re not afraid of him? You’ll have to show us before we believe that.”
A few days later Alice called Joan to the window again and pointed to the ram standing idly in the yard not far from the house. “Now is your chance. Why don’t you go out and pet him, and show us that you’re not afraid of him!”
“All right—I will!” answered Joan bravely. “I’ll take him some salt, and you just watch and see him eat it out of my hand!”
With her handful of salt she started bravely out to where the ram was standing. Somehow her heart was thumping just awfully hard, and as she held out her hand she nearly spilled the salt, for it was shaking so.
“Nice ram, nice old fellow! Come have some salt,” she coaxed.
The ram looked at her suspiciously but came toward her a few steps and sniffed at the salt in her hand.
Then he began to lick it hungrily. It was hard to hold her hand steadily, for she was more frightened than she would ever have admitted, and her hand kept jerking back a little bit.
The old ram’s temper was short and it seemed to him that Joan was teasing him. Whoosh-sh-bump! The ram had bent his head and bunted her right in the stomach, making her sit down quicker and harder than she ever had before in her life. Scrambling to her feet gave him the chance to bunt her from behind, and down she sprawled upon her face.
The ram stood quietly beside her waiting for her to get up again, his head lowered a bit in readiness. Joan was not hurt much but angry tears were blurring her eyes. She blinked them away and decided she just hadn’t been quick enough. This time she would be in the house before—woof!! She was flat upon the ground again.
At last Mother and Alice came running to her rescue and chased the ram away with a broom and stick.
One day not long afterward the ram was chasing Betsy around the barn again. Suddenly Betsy balked. Swinging around she lowered her broad head, braced her feet, and waited. The ram did not see, for he was charging with his head down. Straight into Betsy’s head he crashed! Rolling to his back he lay stunned for a few moments with his feet in the air.
Betsy went calmly back to her grass, and a few moments later a much subdued ram scrambled to his feet, shook his head wonderingly, and disappeared into the barn.
Weeks went by, but the girls never saw the ram chase Betsy again. It seemed he had learned his lesson—he was no longer “boss of the barnyard!”
Many years later Joan was reading the verse, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James. 4:7). She remembered the ram and old Betsy who learned to “resist” and to stand her ground. She smiled as she remembered the day the old ram had had her at his mercy until she was rescued.
But then, soberly, she thought of the Christian’s great adversary, the Devil, the prince and the power of the air, who is able to cause even many Christians to do as he desires. Turning to Ephesians 6:1010Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (Ephesians 6:10) and 11 she read: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Then she prayed, “Help me not to be boastfully confident in myself as I was the day when as a little girl I thought I could feed the old ram. But help me to resist the Devil, to be strong in the Lord, and to stand against the wiles of the Devil!”