During these past several months, we have spent time on this blog series to talk about spiritual warfare and look at different tactics the Devil uses to try and trap us in sin. Using Disney movies as models, we have also looked at scriptural ways to combat Satan’s schemes and work towards spiritual victory in our lives. Five tactics in particular – lies, temptation, shame, hypocrisy, and fear- were highlighted, but as we all know, the devil has many more tactics up his sleeves. However, regardless of what the enemy throws at us, the method of defeating him is the same: applying relevant spiritual truths from scripture to our lives.
As we wrap this series up, I just want to share one more short story as an encouragement to all those who are trying to live a God-Centered life:
One spring day a couple months ago, in April, I was sitting outside talking to the Lord and enjoying the beautiful day. As I sat by my car, I watched my black short-hair cat mosey into the driveway, heading nowhere in particular. All of the sudden, a small brown mass of feathers hurtled towards her, ducking away just as it was about to hit her. Frightened, she hunkered down low to the ground, looking around her suspiciously. With loud squawks, the bird continued to dive at my cat, and she scrambled around trying to avoid it’s attacks.
“What on earth?” I thought to myself. I got up to move closer and see what type of bird was attacking our cat, and low and behold, it was a catbird. Now catbirds are fiercely territorial regardless of the situation, and will often attack animals much bigger than themselves to scare them away. However, I had never seen the catbird in our yard act so bold before. That’s when it hit me: the nest in our front bushes must be a catbird nest. This bird is trying to protect her babies from an unsuspecting “threat”. Sure enough, a few seconds later, a second catbird came flying from where the nest was and joined his spouse in berating our cat.
After watching my poor cat crawl in circles for a few minutes, barely able to move an inch before more aerial acrobatics blocked her escape, I ran over to her and scooped her up, taking her to another part of the yard. Although the catbirds followed me from a distance, and occasionally flew past me, screeching angrily, they would not dive at me as they did my cat -I was simply too big. My cat learned soon enough that if she tried to venture out on her own, she was immediately surrounded by fluttering feathers, but as long as she stayed close to me, the catbirds would not bother her.
As I sat and watched all this happen, I thought to myself, “What a poignant analogy for our relationships with God.” You see, as we go through life trying to follow Christ, it is inevitable that we will face spiritual attacks. And though we try our hardest to fight against them with the weapons God has equipped us with, there will be points when Satan’s onslaught will bring us to our knees. It is in those moments that it is imperative for us to cling to God, for He will fight the battles we never could. As Moses reminded the Israelites in Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Like Catbirds, Satan knows that alone we are weak, and easy targets, but when we rest in the shadow of the Almighty, he is powerless to stand against the might of the Lord. Therefore let us cling all the more closely to our Savior, trusting that his strength, not ours, will be enough to carry us through every battle we face.
Soli Deo Gloria 