The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8
We were out fishing with my parents today when my oldest decided that the fish in the lake were just small things, so he might as well go for something bigger. A mighty fine job he did too! That tree was so big that it caught him instead. His lure was good and stuck, and no amount of tugging was going to dislodge the spinnerbait he was using. Yes, it was only 99 cents…yes, we could have cut the line…yes, we were going after that lure! I suppose leaving it go would have been the easy thing to do, but we were not leaving it behind. We were not going to let the tree win. It was ours and we bringing it back home with us!
The war was on! We got that big ol’ pontoon boat right up to the shore where the branches were teasing us while holding the lure captive. I stood up on the seat, but I wasn’t near tall enough to reach it. My dad, who apparently forgot that he was a grandpa and had the illusion that he was a monkey, climbed up on the rail and pretty much went hand over hand on a limb that I was positive would break at any time. He pulled down the limb with our lure in it so that I could grab it and bring it closer. The rest is a little blurry. I just remember telling my dad that it really wasn’t worth him getting hurt because at this point the tree is trying to attack him. He had to duck as it waved its giant arms at him. Also, my hubby was getting in on the action too, and that tree had the nerve to almost take him out! One final assault though, and we came out the victors!
I guess the tree was not all that nasty; it might have had to do with my perception. It was windy and the boat was drifting pretty quickly, so I guess it might have just seemed like the tree was attacking. However, umm…looking back, the branches trying to take us out might have been us moving instead of the tree swinging. It does make it rather hard when my dad was half in the tree, half on the boat. I think his feet actually left the boat a few times.
My dad taught me a lesson through this. Don’t leave behind what belongs to you. Jesus taught us that through the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15.
How many times do we feel caught? We could be caught in hopelessness, discouragement, sorrow, fear, anxiety, or sin. Sometimes we know we are tangled up, but don’t know the cause. The great thing is that the Lord himself goes before us. He already has seen the enemy, so He knows how to get us out of that tree. He’ll be with us when we feel like people will say we aren’t worth it. We can have courage instead of fear. We can be encouraged instead of discouraged.
The next time you feel caught, truly good and stuck, know that you aren’t alone. There might be a bit of a war, but the Lord will leave with you because He doesn’t leave behind what belongs to Him.
**We may not understand why bad things happen as we remember that 9/11 day 15 years ago, but we are grateful that the Lord doesn’t leave behind what belongs to Him.
