Ah, if you are an expert in “Bambiology,” you will recognize these words as an admonition from Bambi’s father. Bambi has just been shot while in midair and lands on the other side of the canyon, safe from the hunters but not from the forest fire. It is imperative that he gets up! Time is of the essence! Such high drama! He is down! Can he get up?
Are you down? Is fire raging all around you? Has Satan shot you? Or is he poking you with his two-prong pitchfork: discouragement and depression? Let’s learn from Bambi!
- He was sorely wounded. It would have been easier to just lie there and let the pain win. Have you ever felt that way? What’s the use? Defeat is just around the corner. I GIVE UP!
NO! We can’t give up! The cost is too great! When we choose the “low” road, we have no idea what we may lose: our testimony, our children, our homes, our church, a future… but most of all, we may damage the cause of Christ. AND, we sometimes forget that “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1) AND… “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Although the wounds of the spirit do not bleed, those wounds sap our strength just as much as a flesh wound, perhaps worse! Spirit wounds go to the very core of our being! Remember: “…the joy of the LORD is your strength,” (Nehemiah 8:10) so when you are wounded in the Spirit, Satan is like a blood-thirsty lion ready to devour you! (1 Peter 5:8) He knows that our strength is intrinsically tied to our joy, so he will work hard to destroy it.
- Bambi had a helper. His father would not leave him, but urged him to get up. Now, I know some of you think I’m nuts, but there is a lesson here for us. The father continues to order him to get up, and when Bambi finally gets to his feet, he leans against his father.
What a beautiful picture for the born-again believer! Our heavenly Father is there urging, perhaps even demanding us to get up, because He knows that if we don’t, there will be consequences—and He knows what those consequences are, even when we don’t!
- Slowly at first, but then gaining strength—perhaps from his father or from the raging fire—Bambi increases his pace; and after a hair-raising run and an incredible jump down the falls (really? Is that even possible?) Bambi leaves his father and joins his true love, Feline. Ahh!
Where will you go for strength? Is there anywhere to go but to God? Are you trying to run the race on your own strength? Have you found out yet that your strength will never be enough? Do you need to pick up your speed a bit? Are your enemies—the world, your flesh, and the devil—nipping at your heels? Remember, your heavenly Father is right there to lean on and to draw strength from. Whether running because of the fear of a foreboding enemy, or because of our love for God, we can do incredible things in the face of trials.
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”(Psalm 84:11) What a God we serve!!!
Is it your time to run? There are times to “Be still, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10), and there are times to “run with patience the race that is set before us.” (Hebrew 12:1) Whether we are still, or running pell-mell, the focus is always in one place: Jesus Christ, who gives us the victory!
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Corinthians 15:57
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain. 1 Corinthians 9:24
Beyond Common Sense 