Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe falls 10 feet from its mother’s womb and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over and tucks its legs under its body. From this position it considers the world for the first time and shakes off the last vestiges of the birthing fluid from its eyes and ears. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its offspring to the reality of life. In his book, “A View from the Zoo,” Gary Richmond describes how a newborn giraffe learns its first lesson. The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over her calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heels.
When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts. Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs.
Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes, and they’d get it too, if the mother didn’t teach her calf to get up quickly and get with it.
Have you ever felt like a new born giraffe, being pushed and shoved over – kicked and knocked down by the enemy? And when you get up you go through it all over again? As cruel as this appears the mother giraffe is doing this to protect her baby. She is doing what is best so that her baby can survive in the world. Likewise, there are times when God allows us to be knocked down, shoved over, and kicked so we can learn how to survive in this world and to trust completely in Him. The Apostle writes these words about his experience;
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10
Did you catch verse ten? Notice carefully the words of Paul. He writes, “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” This is what God wants because the dying of our Lord is the greatest revelation of His love for you, me and the entire world. God wants us to reveal Christ’s character of love in our lives. Satan says this cannot be done. But by God’s grace and through the Holy Spirit it can be done. Nothing is impossible for our God. Paul concludes the chapter by writing;
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
When you are kicked and knocked down, don’t give up, don’t give in but get up and show the world what our God is really like. May God richly bless you!
Pastor Dan
|
Petrolia SDA Church 195 Lincoln St. Petrolia, California 95558
