Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. – 1 Peter 1:18-19
Some of my earliest memories in life consist of my fascination with the outdoors and the creatures that live there. To this day, I often spend long moments observing the behavior of critters that some may consider commonplace.
Such is the case with the little tree frogs which live around our home. Over the years we’ve enjoyed their creaking songs as we’ve walked about our neighborhood with one of our yellow Labs. In the past, whenever we got near a frog, it would inevitably stop singing, and most of the time we’d never see it due to its camouflaged skin.
On the rare occasion when we did see one, it would remain still as a stone, apparently hoping we’d just pass by without disturbing it. Sometimes as we’d draw near, the critter would climb behind a tree branch or a pile of garden hose to hide. And, of course, when we got too close, it would jump away several feet in its attempt to escape. But I’d never seen one actually leave its nearly invisible hiding place and climb toward me so that I could easily see it.
Until now.
Our house developed a crack in the foundation over the winter, so I dug about a four-foot-deep pit to uncover the gap so I could seal it. As I waited for the sealant to cure so I could refill the hole with dirt, I happened to look down. That’s when I saw movement in the dusty pit.
Down below, I watched a small frog begin to feebly hop across the bottom of the hole and try to climb one of the walls toward me. The frog was covered with dust, and seemed very weak. It fell clumsily off the wall and back into the pit. It lay there for a moment, then began kicking to right itself. Then it looked up and saw me again, and began trying to climb toward me, with the same result.
Lifting the frog from the dusty pit, I held it in my hand and examined it. Its skin was dry, covered with a fine powdered, clay dust. I know that tree frogs need to have moist skin. They can actually breathe by taking in oxygen through their skin. But the skin has to be moist to do this, or they will not survive.
Setting the weak critter down in the shade, I set my garden hose nozzle on “mist”, and sprayed water on and around it. I continued to mist it until all the dusty clay was washed off. The frog lay still, almost lifeless, its eyes open but not blinking (frogs actually have three eyelids)!
After a few more minutes I misted the frog again, and it lifted its head slightly, its throat beginning to pulsate. Every few minutes I’d return and gently spray it down while it rested in the shade. After an hour I returned to see that the frog had crawled under the leaf of a green plant (see picture inset). I sprayed the frog and the area around it again, and left for about an hour.
When I returned, the frog was gone, apparently slipping into the cool moisture of the surrounding plants.
In all the encounters I’ve had with these critters, I have never seen one try to move toward me, and not away from me. I don’t want to read too much into this, but it appeared to me that this little guy was dying, and somehow knew that this huge creature hovering over him from above the pit wouldn’t hurt him, but instead might be his only hope for survival. Hmm…
In the above passage, God tells us that there are many reasons to praise Him. Then He lists a few reasons that are really important. And one of them is that He redeems our life from the pit. Redeemed means that God actually purchased or paid a ransom for us. And He did that by Jesus dying on the cross and shedding His own blood to pay for our sins so we don’t have to.
This is powerful stuff.
If you’ve never understood how you can have your sins paid for, and be reconciled to God, please see Got God?
Keep watching those creatures in the wild. You just never know what it could lead to. You might even save a life or two!
Hope you have a great day.