The Wolf in the Woods

a Sonbeam from warren and mary beth powell

It was mid-morning when I left for town today. Driving down the leaf-strewn lane through the woods, I saw a wolf standing in the road. It saw me coming and ran off to my left into the trees in some underbrush.

As I passed the spot where it had been, I saw that wolf about 100 feet from my car, trying to hide among the trees. It was looking back towards me, almost with some fear in its eyes. I guess it ran off because of the size of my car and the noise scared it.

If I were walking alone, that wolf probably would have run off just the same. To the wolf I must look like an overwhelming obstacle or a huge enemy. What the wolf doesn't realize is that it has years of experience killing and ripping with its teeth.... and, even though I am much bigger, I am unarmed.

The picture of that wolf is true of many believers today. We look at how big our obstacles are and then we run away…….especially when we try to fight our battles alone. We think of the reasons why we would lose in battle and all the things that could go wrong if we tried.

We usually look at our storms of life and problems through our own eyes, not through God's power. He never said he would take the problem away, but He has promised that if we will simply take His hand and step out of the woods in faith, He will be with us all the way.

The wolf looked at me and I was bigger, therefore it ran to hide in the woods. Sometimes that wolf hiding in those woods looks a little like me. But it doesn't have to be me……or you, either, in those woods alone.

We have access to the power and authority of God himself to do battle with all obstacles in our lives. Because of His perfect love for us, we are not to fear; therefore we have no reason to run.

When fear calls our name, we don't have to answer. We don't have to run and hide in the trees like that wolf. If that wolf could think like we do, it would run out of the woods and bite me on the leg. But it can't think like we do.

You and I are created in the image of God, with mind, body and soul. When we realize how much God loves us, what Jesus has already done for us, when we repent from our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, each of us becomes a child of God……a new creature in Him.

The old man in us lived in worry and fear, trying to do everything on his own, hoping for a logical conclusion…….but never succeeding. As children of God, none of us is the old man any more. We must stop making decisions out of fear.

We are to put away the old things, the old ways, the old thought patterns; we are to put on the new. When we receive Jesus into our heart, He moves in and lives there; we don't ever have to run away and hide in the woods again.

In Him we have the power to come out of our fears and face our obstacles head-on. When we call upon the name of the Lord, He will send the Holy Spirit to guide us in all of our decisions.

If you find yourself in the underbrush, maybe hiding in the shadowy woods of life…….. it is our prayer that you call to Him and reach out for His hand……He will lead you out to freedom and peace.

Into His Word

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." 1 John 4:18

"Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord." Isaiah 55:8

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17