My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.
John 10:27-30 HCSB
Yesterday when I wrote about the Three Little Pigs, I couldn’t help but remember my all time favorite story as a child, this was The Wolf and the Seven Kids. This was the story that I wanted read to me over and over. I couldn’t help but think of how the wolf is like satan and often times we are like the seven kids. If you haven’t ever heard that story, then allow me to explain. You see there was this momma goat who had seven little kids or baby goats. She needed to go into the forest for food and warned the children to lock the doors and not allow anyone in. She warned them that the wolf may try to trick them but told them that he had a rough voice and black paws and they were to watch out for these things. When the wolf first came to the door, the kids refused to unlock the door knowing that he was the wolf. The second time he ate chalk to soften his voice, but his paws were still black. He went away and came back with flour covering his paws and this time the kids let him in. As soon as they cracked the door, they realized their horrible mistake, but it was too late. He busted in the door. Even though they scurried about, he found all but one and devoured them immediately. He ate them whole. The youngest hid in the grandfather clock and was spared. The momma goat came home, the youngest told her what happened. They found the wolf sleeping by the well. Momma goat cut open his stomach and found all of the kids unharmed, as he had been so greedy he just swallowed them whole. She got them all out safely, they were unharmed. She then filled the wolf’s belly with stones and sewed him back up. The wolf woke up thirsty and went to the well for a drink where he fell in and drowned and they all lived happily ever after.
I couldn’t help but think of the times in my life when I have been one of the kids and the wolf has tricked me into opening the door for him. I have, at times, just opened the door a tiny crack and he has burst through there and devoured me before I knew what happened. But praise God, God has saved me. God is there for me. In our story, the wolf came after the kids when he knew that the momma goat was not around. The devil does the same to us. He watches and sees when we step away from God. You see, God has told us that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). But we can step away from Him. We can be living outside of God’s will and outside of His protection. This is a dangerous place for us to be.
Also, know that the devil will use deception. He will try to make you think that it is okay for you to sin. As you may recall, this is how he tricked Eve and Adam into eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-5). The devil will tell us things like, “just this one time won’t hurt” or “God will understand” or “go ahead, it’s no big deal”. He uses deception to break down our defense.
So, how do we protect ourselves from this deception? We maintain a close relationship with God. We stick close to Him through daily prayer and Bible reading. We go to church and we study His word. And yes, there is a huge difference between reading the studying the Bible. Trust me on that one.
Our scripture today tells us that if we are Jesus followers, or his sheep, that we will know His voice. This makes it much harder for the devil to deceive us. We will follow Him. When we stay close to our Shepherd, he protects us with His rod and His staff (Psalm 23). When we stay close to Him, no one can snatch us out of his hand.
I don’t know about you, my friend, but I need God’s protection. I have lived without it and that is a very scary place. I have opened the door to the wolf and that was disastrous. I have learned the hard way that I need to read my Bible and pray every day. I have also learned that I need a good, strong church family to be there for me and to intercede and pray for me when times get hard.
My prayer for you today is that you are living safe and snug in God’s protective grasp. If you are, then know that He’s got you. He will protect you. And the best thing is, that even if you have opened the door and been devoured whole, you are not so far away that he cannot hear your cry and save you. Isaiah 59:1 tells us that God’s arm is not too short to save us, nor is his ear too deaf to hear our cry. But in verse 2 it tells us that our sin builds a barrier between us and God and causes Him to hide his face and not be able to hear us.
The real world can be a scary place without Jesus. My prayer for you today is that you have Christ in your heart and in your life. If you do, then you have nothing to fear.
Have a great day!