A Lesson From The
Gazelle
April 7, 2003
In a scene from the television show, Animal
Planet, a compelling image shows a herd of gazelles grazing in
the middle of a meadow. The golden grass is two, maybe
three-feet high. The sky is heavy and gray, with hot clouds
hanging like old sheets. The graceful gazelles with their ringed
horns, that curve backward and inward, are focused on the grass,
not the danger that lurks close by.
In the foreground a leopard creeps slowly from the
left to the right of the screen. A soft breeze blows through the
grass. It waves back and forth in front of the leopard making
him almost invisible. He stops and gazes at the herd.
A single gazelle, savoring the sweet grass,
forgets the herd and its safety. He stands alone, head down,
eating the grass. The leopard locks his eyes on the lone
gazelle. He stiffens--like a statue. He attacks.
The gazelle springs. He darts to the right. He
cuts to the left. The leopard runs as fast as the wind. He
closes in on his prey. He lashes out with his right paw and hits
the rear legs of the gazelle tripping the antelope. In an
instant, the leopard clamps his jaws on the gazelle's throat.
The graceful gazelle lies motionless--his brown eyes dart about.
In a few moments he will be dead. Why? Because he wandered from
the herd. He could have been the slowest, smallest and weakest
gazelle in the meadow, but had he stayed in the middle of the
herd he would have been safe.
Each time I watch that clip I'm moved by the
cruelty of the leopard and the weakness of the gazelle. As a
scuba diver I frequently see large schools of fish. Like the
gazelle, they find safety in numbers. And it's instinctive. God
programmed it into their psyche. We lack such instincts, but
face a greater danger.
Peter said, "Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter
5:8). Hidden from our view, the devil stalks us. He waits to
attack. He watches to see when we're alone, weak, and
vulnerable. He waits until we're distracted.
We must learn a lesson from the gazelle and stay
close to the herd. Alone, we're weak, together we're strong.
That reality raises an important question: are you locking arms
with a few other men on a regular basis? If so--stay close to
them. If not, look up, danger is lurking close by. Get close to
the heard.
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