“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
My wife Shelley and I love animals, and have had a number of house pets throughout our lives. We’re both allergic to cats, so we’ve only had one family of rescued newborn kittens live temporarily in the spare bathroom tub that Shelley converted into a kitty condo while she nursed them to health and found them all homes. Otherwise, we have a firm boundary—no cats in the house. But still, we have never been without a cat since moving to Illinois.
We live just a couple of miles outside our city limits and have plenty of critters drop by for food. Occasionally, feral cats have become our adopted outdoor family members. Maggie was our first. It took my wife a year to tame her, but she became totally trusting and would lay in Shelley’s lap to be brushed, with her engine purring. Maggie was our outdoor fur-baby for 15 years before she passed.
A few weeks later, Miss Kitty showed up—skin and bones, and so frightened she wouldn’t get within 20 feet of us. If we looked her in the eye, she hissed and snarled. But Miss Kitty has no voice. She tries to meow, but can barely make a sound. Bless her heart, she is scared to death of everything. She eats a bite of food, then nervously scans the yard to see if another cat might be approaching. When she spots another feline, she skedaddles under our deck at lightning speed.
We’ve set out an Igloo house for her with a baby comforter, but she rarely enters the sheltered area for fear of being trapped, and with our hectic schedules, Shelley hasn’t been able to take time to tame her. After two years of feeding her, Miss Kitty finally learned to trust us some, allowing us within a few feet of her—without hissing. Well, until a couple of weeks ago, anyway. Now we are back to square one.
We finally had a perimeter barrier installed around our deck to keep the skunks and damaging groundhogs out from under our home. The installers were supposed to leave an open area for a week to allow any critter potentially trapped under the house to escape, but we were unaware that they had not.
Miss Kitty didn’t show up for several days to eat. We walked the deck calling to her, but heard nothing. It wasn’t that unusual for her to disappear for a few days, so we didn’t worry too badly. However, by the fifth day, our concern was heightened. Slowly, we walked the deck inch by inch, calling to her. Not a peep. Concerned she had been in a cat fight, we walked our property searching for her.
The following day was Easter Sunday, and once again, we walked the deck several times calling to her. Nothing. Finally, that evening, Shelley thought she heard a slight hissing sound. We dumped cat food between a crack in the boards, and poured water in another area. We shined the flashlight into the darkness beneath our deck, carefully watching for her, and finally, she approached the food to eat. Poor baby, she had been trapped under the house for six days!
The metal framework around the deck was buried a number of inches into the ground, and we couldn’t pry a section loose to let her escape. Horrified, Shelley texted the installer to beg for a rescue mission. We prayed earnestly, worried for her ability to endure; and thankfully, the compassionate installer showed up the next morning at 7:00 a.m. to open a section for her escape.
Praise the Lord, Miss Kitty made it out alive. A little skinnier and more skittish than ever. Shelley put food and milk down for her, but paused to look her in the eyes and talk soothingly to her. And what did Miss Kitty do? She hissed and ran away. It took several hours for her to gain enough courage to return to eat.
She wasn’t born to be a scaredy-cat, but life experiences turned her that way. And that got us to thinking how Miss Kitty’s relationship with us parallels some people’s relationship with God. Unfortunately, some fear God and view Him with skepticism and mistrust, not recognizing His constant provision and love for them. In fact, many take from His hand, but hiss at Him, afraid to allow Him to draw near. Finding themselves trapped in dark places, they are desperately in need of His rescue. The Lord walks to and fro, calling their names, but they hide from Him. And finally, after they’re delivered from their circumstances by His lovingkindness, they once again run away from His presence. How disappointing this must be to our loving God.
When the Bible tells us to “fear the Lord,” it is simply referring to holding Him in reverence and awe. It doesn’t mean we are to be afraid of His embrace. It doesn’t mean we should hide in trembling. God is love, and God is light. He is our Benefactor, and His heart’s desire is to rescue us. When He shines His light into our dark places, will we respond to His voice and come to His loving embrace? Let’s not be spiritual scaredy-cats. He invites us to approach His throne of grace boldly to find mercy and grace in our time of need.
