Memory Verse: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Psalm 34:7
Palam was a young Indian boy who lived with his father and mother in the Nilgiri hills in South India. That area of India is very poor. The people who live there have none of the modern, helpful things we have, such as cars, tractors and electricity. These poor people work in their fields with oxen and simple tools. If they need something they have to walk to get it.
One morning Palam’s mother called to him and said, “Your father is sick with a high fever. Will you go to the missionary hospital and get some medicine for him?”
Palam did not mind doing this even though the hospital was over 15 miles away. His mother told him to stay overnight at his great aunt’s house, which was near the hospital, and return home the next day.
“Be careful,” whispered Palam’s mother as she said good-bye.
“I have not heard of any tigers in that area, but we know there could be a stray one,” she warned.
Palam left at dawn the next morning and arrived safely at his aunt’s house late in the afternoon. They both walked to the hospital where Palam told the missionary doctor about his father.
The doctor listened carefully and then gave Palam a bottle with pills in it. “Tell your father to take these pills every day for ten days,” he instructed. Then he gave Palam a little book, the gospel of John, written in the language that Palam could read. “Read this for yourself and to your mother and father,” the missionary told him. “It is good medicine for the ‘sickness of sin’ which each of us has.”
Palam did not really understand all the doctor had said to him, but he was glad to have the book and thankful to get the pills for his father. He and his aunt returned to her house for the night.
After they had eaten some supper Palam and his aunt sat and talked. She seemed so happy and she told Palam what had made her so happy.
“The book that the doctor gave you is the secret,” she said. “He gave me one a few months ago, and in it I have found the wonderful Saviour God.”
Palam loved his aunt, so he listened carefully to all she told him about her Saviour God, Jesus. As he lay in bed that night thinking about all the things his aunt had told him he thought, “How strange, yet how wonderful.”
Early the next morning Palam was ready to return home. His aunt hugged him and said, “The good Lord go with you and protect you. If you have trouble or danger pray to the Lord Jesus. He loves you and will hear your cry.”
Many thoughts flooded Palam’s mind as he walked home. All the things his aunt had told him, the special book, the wonderful words in it, and the missionary doctor’s instructions had each made a deep impression on Palam.
About half way home Palam became aware of a noise behind him. Turning, he saw a tiger following him! He tried to run away, but had gone only a few steps when to his horror the tiger knocked him down. Seizing Palam by the upper arm and shoulder, the tiger dragged him through the muddy grass beside a swamp.
Poor Palam! He thought he was going to be killed. The tiger’s sharp teeth tore at his arm and shoulder. Suddenly the words of his aunt flashed into his mind, and he cried, “Lord Jesus, save me!”
In a moment Palam had an idea as the tiger was dragging him through the mud. Using his free arm and hand, he scooped up a handful of the slimy mud and smeared it across the tiger’s eyes. For a moment or two it was blinded and dropped him.
Quickly Palam scrambled to his feet and although his arm was injured and bleeding, he climbed a nearby tree. Then he climbed out onto a branch that hung over the swamp. By this time the tiger was after him again even though still partly blinded by the mud in its eyes. It made a great leap into the air, trying to reach Palam, but misjudged the distance and landed right in a deep part of the swamp and was stuck. As the tiger struggled to get out, Palam climbed back down the tree and ran as fast as he could down the trail.
He thanked the Lord Jesus for rescuing him from the tiger. Then with the medicine and the book still tied around his waist he hurried home, arriving terribly weakened from the pain and loss of blood.
As his mother took care of his wounds and gashes, Palam told her everything that had happened. He told her what “auntie” had said and the prayer that he had made to Jesus. “It was Jesus that rescued me, I know it!” he told his mother.
Can you truthfully say what Palam said, “Jesus rescued me, and I know it"? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? He is waiting to save you. He loves you and died on the cross to wash away your sins. Call on Him now before it is too late. Accept Him as your own Saviour right now.
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.
“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Psalms 34:7.
ML-04/08/1984