Give Thanks – and Speak It Out!

I recently saw a most amazing piece of video, taken in one of the game parks of South Africa. A young buffalo was attacked by a pride of lions on the edge of a watering hole. The lions were about to drag the baby buffalo away for a good meal when suddenly, out of the water, sprung a huge crocodile, which grabbed the other end of the baby buffalo! At this point the traumatised baby was being pulled in two directions – by a lion that had it by the head and by a crocodile which had its rear end! It looked an impossible situation for the young buffalo. It was either going to be food for a crocodile or food for the lions.

But suddenly a whole herd of buffalo appeared on the edge of the watering hole. The emergency signal had gone out and the whole herd came at a gallop to rescue one of their own. To see a large lion being tossed into the air on the horns of a buffalo was an amazing sight. The crocodile lost its grip and slid back into the water and the young buffalo gave itself a shake and went off shielded on all sides by the herd. It was a totally extraordinary rescue act in what seemed an impossible situation!

As I watched that video I suddenly saw myself as that young buffalo, being targeted by all the powers of darkness who were wanting to pull me in all sorts of directions and rob me of my destiny, even my very life. Then over the horizon I saw my Redeemer, surrounded by the hosts of Heaven come to my rescue. He tossed the enemy (the roaring lion of 1 Peter 5:8) aside as if it was powerless, and all the powers of darkness fled before Him and I found myself being comforted by the angels as I walked away from the scene. I had been redeemed!

And I sure wanted to tell everyone what my Redeemer had done for me. I wanted to shout it out that the roaring lion had been defeated by the Lion of Judah and that ‘Leviathan, the gliding serpent, the monster of the sea (the crocodile)’ (Isaiah 27:1) had been defeated by my God. And that He had redeemed me out of the jaws of death. Yes, ‘let the redeemed of the Lord say so’ – let’s not be shy about celebrating the most amazing deliverance in the history of the world, when the Lord rose in triumph, victorious over death and all the powers of darkness.

Prayer: Thank You so much, Jesus, that You are my Redeemer - the one who rescued me from all the powers of darkness, from the roaring lions and from the leviathans that would want to attack me. I am SO grateful and want to tell the world what You have done for me. Amen.