Father, another beautiful last couple of days in Ohio! Thank you for safe travels, good food, and good times as we celebrated Karen’s parent’s 62nd anniversary yesterday. And am grateful for Your palpable presence in our worship services today. I would pray that You would continue to speak to our hearts. Amen.
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Have you ever seen a meadow vole? In the almost 30 years we have lived here, I have only seen one a handful of times. And even then, I just catch a fleeting glance as they scurry to avoid the clutches of my weed trimmer or mower – as was the case this past Friday.
It is also called the field mouse or meadow mouse. They are most certainly a rodent. The ones I have seen have dark brown fur and they are about 6 or 7 inches long and weight about 2 ounces.
If you are the kind of person who is not bothered by the fact that they are rodents, they are cute little critters but I wouldn’t want to be one. An interesting fact I found on Wikipedia under the header of Ecological importance states,
“As with many other small mammal species…the meadow vole is an important food source for many predators. In Ohio, meadow voles comprised 90% of the individual prey remains in long-eared owl pellets on a relict wet prairie.”
One of the main reasons for their ecological importance is that they are prey for larger animals! I sure won’t want that on my job description!
But, if we are not careful, it is very easy for us to become prey, as well. 1 Peter 5:9 in the Amplified Bible reads,
Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.
The devil’s sole desire is to eat us up! He wants us to fail. He wants us to live our lives in a perpetual state of defeat. And if we are not grasping Jesus’ hand in ours, if we are not wearing the armor He has made available to us (Ephesians 6:10-18) we will fall…we will fail!
Lord Jesus, may we lean upon You to assure that we are not meadow voles in the spiritual realm. May we, with Your wisdom and strength, be the valiant warriors You have made us to be. May we see that old lion – the devil – running with his tail between his legs, knowing that he better not fool with this child of God because if he does, he’s just setting himself up for a woopin’!
July 28th, 2019, Sun, 5:54 pm
