Not many people have seen a live octopus. Octopuses are hard to find. Most of them live around the southern coast of England and off the two coasts of France. Sometimes circuses have one in a tank of water and will let you see it for a dime, but often it is a dead one which has been preserved in some way.
No one but the God of heaven would ever have thought of making an octopus. It has no legs; so it cannot run or walk. It has no wings; so it cannot fly. It has no fins; so it cannot swim. The poor thing is surely in a sorry predicament, isn’t it? It just has to crawl around on the bottom of the ocean by pulling itself with its eight arms. It goes up over the rocks in the same way.
I have never seen a live octopus, but I have seen live starfish. They have five arms instead of eight. I have sat on the seashore and watched a starfish try to get back into the water when the tide was going out. He turned all five of his arms in the same direction toward the water and pulled himself along like a measuring worm. Then he stretched them out again and pulled himself some more. That is the way the octopus does, too.
Sometimes the octopus is called the devil fish. It must be because it acts so much like the devil. He likes to get boys and girls in his grasp. He puts one arm around them and gets them to do one sinful thing. Then he gets another arm around them, pretending to love them, and gets them to do some worse thing, and he continues until he has caught them away into a lost eternity. Let me remind you, children, that sin and Satan are like the octopus. They take everything out of you that they can get—your money, your health, your good name, your honor, and your peace. They give nothing in return except a few passing moments of pleasure. The Lord Jesus only is a good Giver. He keeps giving you the best in this life and the finest of the next life, when you trust Him as your Lord and Saviour.
The octopus has many enemies, but most of its enemies are afraid of it. You see, when the octopus is full grown, it has eight arms, each one about three feet long. That makes 24 feet of arms to wrap themselves around anything that attacks it. So if an enemy is caught, it has small chance of getting away. On each of these arms there are two rows of suckers. They are about the size of a quarter and look something like a rubber cup that is used on the windshield of an automobile. They can surely cling to anything they touch.
This is true of Satan and sin, too. They fasten themselves in the heart and mind of boys and girls who play with them. Then when the boys or girls want to get free from sin, they find they are fastened so securely that they cannot break away.
The best way to do, children, is to let the Lord Jesus keep you by His power from Satan’s clutches and from sin’s charms. If you go to Him in prayer, trusting Him fully to help you, He will guard and keep you each day from the wicked and cruel enemy of your souls. He said, “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.” In another place, He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me...” He knows that Satan will want you, and so He asks you to hide from sin and Satan by looking to Him for His loving care.
Animals have enemies, and people—even boys and girls—have enemies. Isn’t it blessed that God has provided a wonderful Friend who will never hurt or harm, if we love Him and put our trust in Him. He is a loving Saviour and loves to give eternal life and love, joy, peace, kindness, and mercy to everyone who accepts Him, God’s blessed Son, the Lord Jesus.