Antelope Caught in a Net

Isaiah 51:20 states, "Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God." My wife and I have been blessed with four children and 11 grandchildren. To paraphrase Proverbs 22:6 (NIV), we have high hopes that we have started them off on the way they should go, so that even when they are old they will not turn from it. In fact I have high apple pie in the sky hopes. [Song High Hopes sung by Frank Sinatra in the movie A Hole in the Head in 1959. The recording of Frank Sinatra and a bunch of kids won an Oscar for best original song.]

I hope my children will never faint.

I hope they will never lie at every street corner.

I hope they will never be caught like antelope in a net.

I hope they are never filled with the wrath of the Lord.

from africahunting.com

I hope they are not full of the rebuke of their God.

That third hope about the antelope caught in a net reminds me of the old black and white African Safari movies. The white Bwana with the high-powered rifle would walk the Savannah. His hired natives would fan out in a semicircle beating drums and sticks. They would drive the antelope or other prey into the center of their human net for an easy kill shot by the boss man.

May my children and grandchildren live to become the words of 3 John 4 (NIV): "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."