Have you ever seen animal tracks in the snow? Maybe your cat or dog has made tracks all over the yard, and you recognized that they were your pet’s tracks. Tracks certainly do show that an animal has been walking around. Recognizing your pet’s tracks is one thing, but not recognizing the tracks can be a little scary and can be a warning to “beware”!
Lots of cats had been missing in one part of our city. Everyone was told not to let their cats go outside, because there were bobcats roaming around. Since there was deep snow in the woodlands, animals such as bobcats were forced to hunt for food in populated areas.
One morning we saw strange tracks in the snow in our backyard. The tracks came right to our back step! We phoned the animal control number and explained what the tracks looked like. The officer there knew immediately that they were the tracks of a bobcat. This meant that a bobcat had been lurking in our backyard, looking for a victim to catch!
The Bible warns us about Satan, our enemy, doing the same thing. First Peter 5:8 warns us to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour.” But those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Saviour can ask Him for protection from our enemy. “Whoso [puts] his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:2525The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)).
In the spring when the snow started to melt, do you know what melted last in our yard? It was those tracks made by the bobcat—they had turned to ice! Sin leaves its mark, and the result of sin lasts a long time, just like those bobcat tracks. But if we will come to the Lord Jesus and tell Him what we’ve done, He gives us a promise in Hebrews 8:1212For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:12): “[Your] sins and [your] iniquities will I remember no more.” God does not remember them, if we are one of His children and they are confessed to Him.
ML-02/14/2010