Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
….Worship the Lord with gladness.
….Come before him, singing with joy. Psalm 100:1-2 NLT
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One thing I frequently see, this time of year, in particular, is red-winged blackbirds chasing hawks or crows. They fly right over them and are often pecking at their heads. I looked it up and found out that they’re not really hurting the other bird but are driving home (literally with their beaks!) the message of “Keep your distance! This is our territory, and your presence is explicitly not welcome! Get lost!”
As I am known to do, I thought about that and came up with an analogy but with a bit of a twist. I assigned one of the birds to be the enemy of our souls, the devil, and the other bird to be us. What worked best was to make the devil the red-winged blackbird. We will make us, the hawk.
Like the hawk, we are flying along doing what God created us to do – we excel in being the very best hawk we can possibly be. As we are doing that, it draws us closer to God. Well of course the devil doesn’t like that one little bit, so he lashes out, diverting us from our goal of drawing closer to God.
He calls, “Keep your distance! We’ve claimed this area for darkness and light may not enter- it is our territory. Your presence is explicitly not welcome! Get lost!”
It is far too easy for us to be daunted. We become discouraged from moving toward God and instead are distracted into changing course or possibly even turning back. It’s a bad move but the thing is, it’s not like it is totally our fault…in a way. Who likes putting themselves into situations where we are harassed? Who likes being humiliated? I mean seriously we are a mighty hawk, and this little pipsqueak red-winged blackbird is wailing on us! What are we supposed to do?
It can be easy to lose our focus but with prayer and practice and much more prayer, we can stand firm against the distraction, and, where the red-winged blackbird might win the battle, the devil cannot stand against us. He must yield, for, in Christ, we are the victors!
So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. James 4:7 AMP
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 NIV
…let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith… Hebrews 2:1b-2a NASB
Hang in there with Jesus by your side, you got this!
May 15th, 2022, Sun, 6:21 pm
