The Enemy Prowls Round

Watching

An incident occurred in the field outside our back door the other day. We are so blessed as to live adjacent to ancient fields mentioned in the Domesday Book – the record of the first census undertaken in 1086 and covering almost the whole of England and Wales. It was undertaken for and by William the Conqueror, king of England in 1066-1089. But I digress. The field.

There are four or five paddocks fenced out in the field behind the house and each paddock holds one or maybe two horses. The paddock immediately behind us also contains a one horned sheep whom I have named Billy, after Billy Strayhorn, the jazz musician. That same paddock also holds a largish black horse, a mare, with a tendency to being a bit spiteful – one of the reasons she is on her own. That she and Billy share the paddock is entirely down to Billy’s fleetness of foot in steering clear of trouble.

However, there is always some swift sidestepping and careful negotiation of the field when we appear with carrots and a queue of two appears pretty quickly along our garden fence. We always feed the mare first and, while she is diverted, we can ensure Billy gets his or her fair share. If in danger, Billy, being smaller and quicker, ducks under an inner fence into a small sanctuary area where the mare cannot reach him.

OK – all well and good until yesterday. It was a bright and sunny afternoon and Billy dropped his guard. He lay sunning himself, basking in the warm Spring sunshine. The mare wandered over towards him and, as Billy made no move – he must have been dozing – she quietly turned her back on him and lashed out with her rear hooves catching Billy a real hard kick in the head !! Poor old Billy looked a very sorry sight. His remaining horn was smashed and he was well bloodied. We called the owners and a vet soon arrived. Our anxiety over Billy was soon soothed as he was tended to and taken to a safer pen for a few days.

So what on earth has this to do with my usual blog posts?

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Another way of putting it is, “The enemy is always active to rob, steal, kill and destroy.” Billy got caught by his enemy. If we are not vigilant, we too may be caught by the enemy who, knowing our plans to brings lost souls into the Kingdom of God, seeks any way he can to rob and steal from us – even to destroy us if he can.

This is why we are called to be watchmen on the walls. We don’t only watch for the signs of the times and end times. We are also to watch for the enemy as he attacks us and tries to bring our brothers and sisters down. We are to use our authority in Christ to defeat him. The Word of God says, in James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” If we are submitted to God then we can tell the enemy where to go - and he must go.

Don’t you feel better just knowing that?

I hope Billy is all right. We miss him.