Set Free From the Sticky Trap…But So Much More

It’s that time of year again…cold. I know my northern friends are laughing at this southerner for not tolerating the cold very well. But there are others who don’t like the cold either…tiny creatures. In the south we call them critters. This is the time of the year when critters like to find their way into houses to get warm.

One winter we had a mouse come into our house while some construction was being done near us. I must say he was the most fortunate mouse in the world. Why is that? Because he just happened to come into a house in which my husband, an animal lover and most compassionate man, was the one who discovered him. 

Instead of setting a regular mousetrap, Denny set out a sticky trap. Sure enough, it wasn’t long until little mousie was stuck on it. Denny removed him with vegetable oil in order to set him free outside. BUT…it had just snowed, and we were having an unusually cold spell of negative temperatures. Because little mousie’s fur was wet with vegetable oil, Denny was afraid the mouse would freeze to death. 

So what did this compassionate man do? He made a little house for the mouse and fed him for three days until the weather warmed up. Once the temperatures were back into the 40’s and 50’s, he took his little mouse friend to the woods and set him free. 

Denny showed great compassion by catching the mouse in a humane way. But he did so much more than just rescue what most people would consider an enemy or pest. He gave the mouse shelter from our cats. He kept him warm. HE FED THE MOUSE! WHO DOES THAT? LOL! 

What a picture of what God does for us! As sinners, we are enemies of our Great Holy God. Like the mouse, we are on a sticky trap of sin, and we can’t free ourselves. But when we trust in Christ with a repentant heart, God in His great compassion, does so much more than just rescue us from that trap! 

Psalm 103:3-5 describes the compassion of God in that He “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, [he] redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, [he] satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

God’s forgiveness is such a great gift of mercy. But He even does so much more than forgive us. He makes us His own children, “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). He has given us His Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what more is to come (2 Corinthians 1:22). 

Yes, there is more to come. God didn’t just leave us as a free little mouse, forgiven and released from our trap but still destitute in the cold. Not even close! What is to come is unimaginable! 

There are more generous gifts flowing out of His love and compassion. He has given us riches in heaven, an inheritance we cannot even imagine. He has given us the joy and glory of abiding with Him forever in complete harmony. He has given us the unfathomable treasure of being made perfect in His image. 

We aren’t just free paupers. We are rich heirs with all of the glories of heaven awaiting us. 

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (I John 3:1). Set free from the sticky trap. Sheltered. Fed. Loved. Adopted and made heirs.

Mr. Mousie has nothing on us!