From the DayBreaks archive, 2005:
Have you ever spent time in a boat, navigating a river or lake? When we lived in Maine, we went on a moose safari in some canoes with some friends. We paddled around a lake (in between swatting away mosquitoes, black flies, and no-see-ums), and at one end of the lake, we were paddling in shallow water where there were rocks that could capsize the boat. Fortunately, the water was clear enough that we could see them and navigate around them. We didn’t unintentionally go swimming that day.
Other dangers in life are invisible to the naked eye, too. For example, bacteria, viruses, and cells that decide to run amok and turn cancerous. There are many invisible dangers that we face.
Some of our dear friends where we live have a home out in the country with quite a few acres. They have a dog named Charlie. It isn’t practical to fence the adventurous dog in, at least not in the normal way. So they bought one of those “invisible fences”. If you’ve not heard of them, they’re really like an electronic force field – sort of. You set out markers that determine the boundaries of where the dog can run, and the dog wears a collar that picks up a signal from the markers. If the dog tries to cross the “invisible fence”, it gets a small shock from the collar. Well, from what our friends tell us, Charlie is a fast learner! He only got zapped a couple of times and he quickly learned his boundaries!
We live in a world where evil things are made to look good and to sound good. Wickedness is painted as fun and exciting in the media. Words are changed to make bad things sound like good ideas. There are plenty of invisible dangers. The truth is that most of those dangers aren’t really invisible, but they may require a new way of looking or thinking to see and recognize them. And that takes retraining our minds, looking through the lenses of the Word of God at what is being said and promoted, and seeing things with God’s eyes. Is it possible? Not totally – God will always be able to see things we can’t, but we are to be discerning and listen to the Spirit. We can’t be discerning if we don’t even know (or worse yet, care) about what the Word teaches. As the body of Christ, we must rededicate ourselves to banqueting on the Word, communing with God in prayer – and then getting His guidance on how to apply truth to everyday situations so that we don’t founder on invisible dangers!
Hos. 14:9 (NLT) – Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those who are discerning listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But sinners stumble and fall by the way.
PRAYER: Teach us to not just delight in Your word, but to live by it! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.
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