Like a squirrel up a tree

“save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”
-Proverbs 6:5

I very much like nature. I like watching birds and squirrels and the like. There is little much more exotic in the city where I live, but at times I can sneak up on a squirrel on a tree trunk. I never get really close, of course. Usually, if I’m close enough that I can see him well, I won’t try to get any nearer.

The squirrel doesn’t know that I don’t mean him harm. As soon as him figures I’ve gotten a little too close, he’ll scurry up the tree faster than my eye can even follow.

It’s this sort of image that Solomon is trying to convey here – that of speed. He has been talking to us about what to do if we find we’ve made some financial or social mistake. He tells us to go to the offended party and try to make it right.

Most of us know we should do that, but we try to wait. Let things settle down. Maybe the other person will forget. Solomon tells us to go immediately. Move as quickly as a squirrel up a tree to get yourself out of this trap.

The gazelle can’t always get away from the hunter. The bird can’t always get away from the fowler. I’ve never caught one, but I know that squirrels have been caught before they can get up that tree. It doesn’t mean they don’t try their best to get away.

In the same way, when we have wronged someone, we should hurry to resolution, even if we cannot achieve our goals here. If you’ve made a bad financial decision, go try to make it right. If you’ve said something that offended someone else, go try to make it right. Go this very day!

The Bible never assumes that we can actually live good and moral lives. The Word assumes that we will mess up. Other religions may tell you to work really hard to earn your way into heaven, but not Christianity. The very core of the Christian faith is the understanding that we are not perfect (far from it!), but that Jesus is.

That matters quite a bit, because Christians should never claim to be good people, just forgiven people. As Solomon here bids us do when making these errors, we confess our sins to the Father, and in Grace are forgiven. This can only happen because of the death of Jesus. God is holy and righteous, and He does not simply allow sin to go unpunished. But when Jesus died on the Cross, He took upon Himself the punishment for those sins.

When we repent and have faith, we are forgiven because of His action, not our own.

When you sin, take Solomon’s advice. Seek out Him whom you wronged and ask forgiveness. Don’t wait. Go to Him today. As quick as a squirrel up a tree.