The Lion at Mabotsa

“The Lord stood by me, and strengthened me … and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” — from 2 Timothy 4

On David’s last morning at home, the family got up at five o’clock. David read Psalm 121 aloud, which says that our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Then his father walked with him to Glasgow, and they said goodbye. They never saw each other again.

In December 1840 David sailed for Africa. On the voyage the captain taught him to find his way by the moon and the stars. In July 1841 he reached Kuruman, Robert Moffat’s mission station.

To learn the Setswana language, David went to live for about six months among the Bakwena people, hearing and speaking nothing else. Then, in 1843, he helped to start a new mission at a place called Mabotsa.

In February 1844, when lions were attacking the cattle, David went with the men of Mabotsa to hunt them. He shot at a lion sitting on a rock. He was loading his gun again when he heard a shout. “Starting, and looking half round,” he wrote, “I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me.” The lion caught him by the shoulder and knocked him down. Strangely, he felt no pain and no fear, only a kind of dreaminess.

Then a brave Christian teacher named Mebalwe raised his gun to shoot the lion. The gun would not fire! The lion left David and leapt at Mebalwe, and hurt his leg. Another man ran at the lion with a spear, and he was hurt too. Then, at last, the lion fell down dead. As far as we know, both brave men got better.

David’s arm was badly broken. For the rest of his life he could not lift his left arm above his shoulder. But he was alive, because two African men had risked their lives for him.

When we are in danger, God is with us, and often he helps us through brave people around us.

Dear God, thank you for keeping me safe. Thank you for the people who help me when I am in trouble. Help me to be brave and kind like Mebalwe. Amen.