This is a picture I took the other night from my back deck. Since I don’t have my job at the church anymore, I have discovered time…...time to pull over to the side of the road and photograph flowers…....time to sit on our back deck on a cool, peaceful Austin, Texas evening in May and feel the gentle breezes caressing my face and hear the owl who-whoing in the forest behind our yard. I used to work so much that I didn’t have time for pleasures like these. So I am grateful. God rescued me when I didn’t even know I needed rescuing! (Or maybe I did know…. I just was too chicken to take that step into the unknown.)
Guard my life and rescue me, let me not be put to shame for I take refuge in You. ~Psalm 25:20
Turn Your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my Rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. ~ Psalm 31:2
So this was the moonlit view right before I went to bed the other night at around 11:00 p.m. Beautiful. Quiet. Serene.
The next morning at 6:30 a.m. it was cloudy and still a little dark but as I walked out into our driveway and passed by my car I was perplexed to see that the driver’s side door was ajar just a little bit. “What in the world?” I opened the door the rest of the way and saw that the glove box cover was hanging open. “That isn’t like Gary to not close the car door all the way, and I wonder why he would take everything out of the glove compartment…….Noooo, surely not……Oh my gosh, did someone break into my car??”
I ran in the house and called him at work, but of course deep inside already knowing the answer – no, he had not gotten in my car this morning. I checked in the car again and noticed that the two ceiling compartments for sunglasses were also hanging open. So I allowed the realization to fully hit me – a STRANGER was in MY car some time between 11:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., in our own driveway, with our front and side porch lights brightly illuminating the whole area. He or she touched my steering wheel, sat in my driver’s seat, opened my glove box and dug around the other compartments of my car. Violated! How terrifying. How unnerving!
I hurried to the phone, dialed 311 for non-emergency aid and a Travis County Sheriff arrived at my home literally within about six minutes. I have to admit, I am not ALWAYS a fan of those who patrol the streets as I have been known to get the occasional speeding ticket from one or the other of his compadres, but on this particular occasion, I was happy to see officer Lane.
I gave him all the details and he filed an incident report for me, of course admonishing me to start keeping my car doors locked at night. I countered and proposed that since I don’t leave valuables in there I had thought that leaving it unlocked was actually better, evidenced by the fact that my windows were not currently smashed in. He patiently explained that there are some thieves who just carouse around testing for unlocked car doors, and those whose cars are open become the unfortunate victims.
As officer Lane drove away in his squad car I stood there with his business card in my hand, my new case number written on the back, and began to reflect on this event.
My car had been left unlocked, unguarded. A thief was allowed free access to it. There is another enemy out there that we need to guard ourselves against and he is even more insidious, more cunning and more evil than any petty thief that slunk around our neighborhood the other night. And yet, we are uncomfortable even talking about him – Satan, the devil, and his footsoldiers, the demons. We don’t like to think about that unseen spirit world, and yet…..it does exist. There is a spirit war going on and we are affected by it, we may just not know it.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ~ I Peter 5:8
Of course we are not going to see a man dressed in red with horns, wielding a pitchfork and beckoning us to follow. He is much more subtle than that. Have you ever just felt a darkness, a heaviness of spirit, or heard that voice in your head disguised as your own telling you lies, discouraging you, condemning you? Satan is also known as “The Accuser,” or “The Father of Lies.” (John 8:44)
The enemy wants nothing more than for us to lose hope, to doubt God, to give up, or if he can’t get that far, he is content with us to just be complacent, to miss out on all the wonderful things God has planned for us.
Jesus tells us ~
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you might have life and have it abundantly. ~ John 10:10
When we are feeling down or despairing or God is just not answering our prayers as fast as we want Him to…. it may seem like it but we are not walking out here helpless. He has actually promised that we have power, we are warriors, and He already has won this war and we just need to let Him fight these battles for us.
For though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
So how do you DO that? Well, Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days tempted by the lies of the enemy….and He quoted Scripture back to him (Luke 4). The Word of God is packed with promises of protection, of victory, of our ultimate success in this endeavor, sometimes we just need to remind the enemy (and ourselves) of our status as Children of the King! And we even have armor!
Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. ~ Ephesians 6:10-13
Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. ~ James 4:7
Note carefully that these Scriptures tell us to “take your stand,” “stand your ground” and “resist,” -- all positions of strength. It is the devil who will flee! If you want to read more about the specific pieces of armor we are given, check out Ephesians 6:14-18.So soldiers, be strong! Stick close to our Victorious Protector. And in the meantime, keep your car doors locked – keep your heart guarded, and don’t go out there unarmed!
P.S. Guess what the Shady Hollow thief took from my car……NOTHING!
This is awesome!
ReplyDelete