Monday, March 28, 2016
Psalm 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death.
DEATH'S DOOR
Have you ever heard the legend of "Death's Door?" It's fascinating. Porte des Mortes, also known as the Door of Death, and Death's Door, is a strait linking Lake Michigan and Green Bay between the northern tip of the peninsula of Door County, WI and a group of islands historically known as the Potawatomi Islands. Historical tradition is traced back to a battle between the Winnebago and Potawatomi tribes. Briefly put, the Winnebago tribe tricked and then trapped the invading Potawatomi tribe, who were arriving in their canoes at night, against the bluffs during a storm and used the advantage to devastate the Potawatomi tribe. Since that time the strait has lived up to its name. The treacherous strait is littered with shipwrecks. Some say it has more shipwrecks than any other section of fresh water in the world(1).
Death is not a legend. We experience it all around us and are touched by it with close, loved ones. You can't travel around death or take another pass. Death, since the fall into sin, is a part of this brief earthly journey. Like the craftiness of the Winnebago tribe, Satan uses your pride against you. He makes you feel confident in your own strength, your skill and ability, to weather the storms of life. He lures you into his trap, making you confident in yourself, your own goodness and works, so as you approach Death's Door you'll think that by your own doing you'll land safely on heaven's shore. All a lie.
The Psalmist rather wisely prays, "Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Psalm 13:3). The Son of God, Jesus Christ, enlightens eyes against your enemy's plan. He warns you of Death's Door and like a beacon of light He guides you to overcome your pride and worthless paddling against the waves of your sins to trust in Him alone. Death, the Devil, and Hell are no mere legends. Jesus has fought and delivered you from them all, setting the course through His life, sacrificial death for all sins, and promising you just as He was raised from the dead, you too will land safely in heaven to be with Him forever--after passing through Death's Door!
(1) Adapted from: Holand, H.R. History of Door County, Wisconsin: The County Beautiful, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, 1917, Vol. 1, pages 39,40; reprinted in 1993 by Wm Caxton Ltd, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, ISBN 0-940473-23-2; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_des_Morts
