Jewel # 42 (Sept. 23, 2009)

"And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up MY JEWELS."
(Malachi 3:17)

The Blind Groundhog

To my dear grandchildren, 

One of the signs that winter is over and spring has come to our cold part of the country is that we begin to see groundhogs.  These animals, sometimes called woodchucks, sleep through the winter and come out of their burrows in the springtime.  Groundhogs are really pests, because they burrow large holes in lawns, gardens and farmers' fields and love to eat crops and nearly anything planted in the vegetable garden.  Normally we want to get rid of them, but a lady in our area had an unusual story.

This lady was walking along when she saw a very strange sight.  A groundhog was stumbling around with a soup can stuck tightly on its head.  The soup can was covering its eyes and ears, so that it was truly blinded and probably couldn't hear very well either.

The groundhog staggered along, heading towards the busy road ahead where it would soon have been killed.  The lady called for someone to help her catch the groundhog, but to her surprise the poor, frightened creature stopped near her feet and lay down.  It allowed her to hold him while she tried to remove the soup can.  He did not even try to get away.  When she got the soup can off his head, he looked up at her, scared, dazed and exhausted, then seemed to get his bearings and scurried off.

This little animal had his eyes blinded, but he accepted help and was set free.  The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that, "the god of this world [the devil] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not," so that they do not receive the good news that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).  That morning the lady was not looking for an animal to save, but Jesus came on purpose "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).  That's you and me.

It would be very good for each one of us to do as that groundhog did - to fall at Jesus' feet and to put ourselves into His hands, because Jesus is able "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him" (Hebrews 7:25).  He is able to open blind eyes and blind minds.

"Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21)