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"WHEN I IN AWESOME WONDER…"
Michigan's Golden Coast
The Preying Lion
Lying in wait among the dunegrass along
the shore of Lake Michigan the hunter has set his trap for his victims.
Unaware of the danger his hard working prey avoids the trap that has been
set the first few times she passes by. She gets closer and closer as she
goes back and forth across the face of the dunes looking for food among
the plants. Suddenly, she gets too close and her feet begin to slip down
into the trap. Frantically, she struggles to get away, yet, the sand breaks
loose under her feet and she slides downward into the vortex like center
of the pit. Then, Wham! With a vicious hold the hunter grabs her leg and
drags her beneath the surface where she cannot break free because of the
weight of the sand pressing down upon her.
As a young boy, I often dropped "victims", you know them as
"ants", into the traps set for them by the ant lions in the
sand. It seemed it took large traps from large ant lions to catch the
larger ants. If the trap was too small, the intended victim would climb
out easily. If we quickly scooped the trap into our hands we could, at
times, catch the vicious predator I have been talking about. We called
these ant lions, "doodle bugs", because they only seemed to
be able to crawl in reverse. In fact, the big ones would tickle our cupped
hands in the center as they would back into it trying to get away from
the "predator" that had captured them.
The ant lion is actually the larvae of a dragonfly. It has been given
the instinct by our Creator to dig a funnel shaped pit in the dry sand
by backing in ever narrowing circles and throwing the sand out with its
large jaws until it is nearly one inch deep. Then, they hide under the
sand in the center. When the ants are busy in the heat of the day the
dry sand breaks away under their feet so that they cannot climb out of
the pit. The moving sand alerts the ant lion which then pulls them to
their death under the sand. Its vicious pinchers make up nearly a third
of its total length of one fourth of an inch long. If you have ever tried
to climb straight up a loose pile of sand you know how the ant must feel
like when it cannot escape.
The futility of the ants' struggle against an enemy which has physics
on his side seems to me a vivid picture of the attacks of the devil upon
God's people. At times they flirt with danger by seeing how close they
can come to sin and temptation without being pulled in and becoming a
victim. At times, sadly, they end up in the slippery slope of sin and
like the poor ant, slide into the abyss to be devoured by the devil. Oh,
we must be warned again and again. Sin is not a joke; it is serious and
dangerous. Whether the sins are in the area of sex, alcohol, deception,
or rebellion, unless we repent of them, we will be victims. The traps
of the devil are littered with the bones of those who thought they could
get away with a sin just once.
Protection
Lord, keep us from temptation's call,
Lest on its slippery slope we fall.
Downward into the pit to slide,
Where the "Roaring Lion" hides.
Lest we from Thy truth be led,
To deny the Christ, Whose blood was shed.
So, humble and careful let us be,
That we may find our rest in Thee.
By: Deane Wassink
5/30/01
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