DEVOTION/Lions sacrifice for their young
Animals instinctively care for their young
Many animals go to great lengths to guard, protect, and watch over their young. One such animal is the emperor penguin. They will do nearly anything to care for their babies. After the mother penguin lays the egg, she leaves the family and heads out to sea to get back her strength. That leaves the father penguin at home alone to care for the egg by tucking it under a flap of skin above his feet to keep it warm. He carries the egg on his feet as he moves about. For sixty days, the father penguin gives up eating until the mother returns. When she arrives, the egg will have hatched, and she begins to regurgitate the food that she gathered while away. Then it is her time to care for the young while the father heads out to sea to get his strength back. When he returns, both parents take turns feeding the chick.
Lions also work hard at caring for their cubs. They sometimes have to battle hyenas or water buffalo to protect them. Some have even been killed while guarding their families. The Bible says: The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate (Nahum 2:12).
Why do animals do that? At first, we might think it is because of their love for the babies. But animals do not feel love as humans do. Rather, they do it because it is part of their instinct. Many animals instinctively feel the need to stay with their young, teach them how to feed themselves, and fend for their own safety.
It is the Father’s loving nature that he cares for us
People protect and care for their young too. It is important that our babies are protected, warm, and well-fed. We do that because we love our children. But it is so much more with our Father in heaven. He will do everything he can to guard, feed, and care for his children, well beyond what any human parent would. In 1 John 3:1, the Bible says: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! God cares for us not because we deserve it, or it is his instinct, but because of his loving nature. God is love! He loves us so much that he was willing to send his Son to suffer and die for us so that we will be with him in heaven. First John 4:8-10 says it well: God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
By Reynold R. Kremer