ONE day when I was up in the old maple tree, what should I spy but a pretty little chipmunk right beside me. I sat quite still and looked him in the face, and he looked at me in return.
I had. some bread in my pocket, and I put crumbs along the branch on which I was seated, beginning as far off as my arm could reach, and then nearer and nearer to myself, finishing with some nice bits in my lap.
You see what I wanted. I thought if he would only come into my lap and let me stroke his pretty striped back, I should be delighted, and —would you believe it?—he actually did pop in for a moment. I was afraid of frightening him if I moved -a finger, and he just seized a crumb and was off in a jiffy.
He thought he could trust me and so we carried on this game for several days, but at last I caught him, and that was an end of his confidence in me. I put him into my beautiful rosewood sewing box, which was lined and cushioned with crimson silk, he tried hard to escape, and bit my finger severely.
A short time afterwards, when I went to feed him, I found him panting in the bottom of the box. The silk lining was quite spoiled by his teeth, and the wood at the corners was gnawed nearly through. Mother insisted that he be set free at once, and I never saw him again.
Poor little Tricksy. He was not wise enough to know my plan, and I felt ashamed, when I thought it over, to think how I had deceived him. Mother said that this is just how Satan deceives us, and we do not know until it is too late, that the harmless things he offers us are just intended to make us his prisoners. I felt that I did not want to be Satan's prisoner, but I did want the sinful pleasures he offered me, just little ones, and I thought myself wise enough to know where to stop.
Mother said that Satan was wiser than I, and that like Tricksy, I would he caught in his trap from which only God could set me free. I am sure now that Mother was right, but our God is a God to be trusted at all times. I know that the Lord Jesus loves me and has died to set me free from Satan's power, and that He will take me some day to His Father's happy home in heaven, but if you choose Satan's service, you must share Satan's eternal doom. Will you not trust in my Saviour who will cleanse away your sins in His most precious blood so that you may come to heaven too?
Messages of God’s Love 11/20/1949