If you're a Survivor fan you will understand my title. Today I want to talk about Stuffles, the honey badger. I believe we can often learn valuable life lessons by observing God's creatures. Even Solomon and Jesus told us to observe them.
Matthew 6:26 (NLT)
Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?
Proverbs 6:6-11 (NLT)
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
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Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
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they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.
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But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
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A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
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then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
Before you read on, please stop and watch Stuffles in action!
It was very entertaining and quite comical to watch Stuffles continuously outwit his zookeeper. He reminds me of my clever little ferrets. I'm a ferret lover and, like Stuffles, they love to problem solve. Mind you, if one of my ferrets started turning my bedroom doorknob in the middle of the night my son would have to peel my fingernails out of the ceiling.
Now watch how my ferret Geist overcomes his "obstacle!"
Aside from being very amused by Stuffles' clever antics, I was inspired by his tenacity. Whatever "obstacle" stood in the way of his freedom, he never gave up, and I mean NEVER!
The devil has all sorts of "obstacles" in his bag-of-tricks to try and keep us from enjoying the freedom Jesus died to give us. Often he succeeds with these "obstacles" which distract us and steal our joy. Thankfully, Jesus has given us everything we need to outwit -- outlast -- and -- outplay the devil.
Luke 10:19 (Amplified)
Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.
The serpents and scorpions mentioned in the above scripture are Satan and his demons. Isn't that great news? Knowledge is good but, like Stuffles, we also need tenacity because even though we may outwit the devil once or twice he will always try again. It might even feel like you are in your own version of Alcatraz. This is where that Never Give Up attitude needs to kick in.
Watching Stuffles really ministered to me at a time when I'm facing my own "obstacles." Recently one of my ferret fur babies passed away in my arms. I take the loss of a fur family member pretty hard. Shortly after that I was laid off at my work and I have property taxes and income taxes coming due as well. Being a single mom with no savings to fall back on, this has been a time of leaning on and trusting God to provide more than ever. I wanted to share this with you because I want to be able to look back at this at a later time and see how God provided, because He always does.
