Lou and Chou walked quickly and silently down the steep mountain near their home in China. They were happy to be going to a Bible school in the valley along with other Christians. The two young men hadn’t known Jesus as their Saviour for very long, but already they had spent a lot of time preaching about Jesus in their village. The two friends had worked hard for a month, hunting wild animals to sell to earn money. They had saved up enough to live on while they studied the Bible with the missionaries. Even as they walked down the mountain, they carried their bows and arrows with them, and their sharp hunting knives hung at their sides.
Suddenly Lou saw something exciting. “BEAR TRACKS! I’ve always wanted to shoot a bear,” said Lou. “I’m going to follow the tracks!”
“But what about the Bible school?” said Chou. “We won’t make it tonight if we waste our time chasing a bear.”
“It won’t take us long,” Lou urged. “We can get to Bible school a day late. Think how the villagers will respect us when they see a bearskin! They will call us brave and respect what we have to say.”
Chou didn’t want to give in, but he knew how the villagers had scoffed at their message and had even sometimes thrown stones at them when they were preaching. Perhaps that last argument of Lou’s was too much for him. He stopped arguing and followed his friend.
The two young men turned off the path and followed the bear tracks for several miles, working their way through thick brush. Then suddenly there in front of them was the biggest, blackest bear they had ever seen! It was scratching at a tree, perhaps looking for honey.
Lou turned to Chou and whispered, “You stay here. I’m going to climb a tree and shoot at him from above. That way I’ll get a better aim at his neck. When I’ve killed him, you can help me skin him.” Lou climbed a nearby tree as quietly as he could and soon got his chance. The bear turned, and Lou’s arrow zinged through the air. It missed! Quickly he shot another arrow. It missed too! Now the bear was getting mad. He saw Lou and started toward him. Another arrow shot through the air, and this one found its mark. The bear dropped to the ground.
Lou scrambled down the tree, shouting, “Come on!” to his friend. But just as he was about to plunge his knife into the bear’s throat, the huge bear got to his feet and jumped on him with all of its weight and fury. Chou ran for cover, but the bear clawed Lou’s face and body furiously. Finally Lou dropped to the ground, and the bear slunk off into the woods with the arrow still stuck in his neck.
Chou ran back to his bleeding friend and called, “Lou, Lou, are you still alive?” Lou answered weakly, “Go quickly and call someone to help ... maybe the missionary,” then he fainted. Chou knew he couldn’t leave his friend there and go for help, so he struggled, half dragging, half carrying Lou back to the trail they had left. How he wished he hadn’t listened to Lou’s convincing arguments to get him to leave that trail!
Chou knew he needed help to save Lou’s life. He bowed his head and began to pray: “Oh, God, please forgive our mistake! Send someone along to help. We are so sorry. Please forgive. We should have gone on to the Bible school instead of taking the side path.”
Have you ever found yourself in real difficulty because you’ve done something you knew you shouldn’t do? How often we do things that seem harmless, thinking no trouble will come to us. We expect to gain something by doing what we want instead of following God’s plan for us. Perhaps we don’t end up in as much trouble as Lou and Chou had, but our “side paths” have unhappy results that affect our lives. It is Satan who encourages us to go our own way, knowing it will cause us harm. He is a thief who only comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)). “Be sober, be vigilant [watchful]; because your adversary [enemy] the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)).
God heard and answered Chou’s prayer. A group of men came by, and Chou asked them to carry Lou to the safety of an inn. Then Chou went on through the night to get the missionary. He immediately returned with Chou and operated on Lou, which saved his life. Later, his face showing the cruel scars of his recent injuries, Lou told them at the Bible school that it was wrong to take the side path, and that he and Chou should have gone directly to the school. His confession encouraged other young Christians to follow Jesus more closely and not let Satan sidetrack them.
Satan not only sidetracks Christians, but he especially tries to deceive those who have not accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. Satan is a clever enemy who occupies people’s minds with distractions and prevents them from thinking about God and life after death. You and I have never-dying souls that will spend eternity either with the Lord Jesus in His happy home in heaven or with Satan in that awful place called hell. The Lord Jesus loves you and died to save you from your sins so that you could spend eternity with Him. Will you let Him save you?
ML-03/21/2010