Have You Ever Been Stung?

Until today, I could honestly say that I had never been stung by a bee, wasp or hornet.

As a human being, we are all tempted to be reactive out of fear. Today, while breaking up some compacted wood chips to spread in my yard, I unwittingly disturbed a wasps’ nest. All of a sudden, there was quite a swarm. While I stood still and declared that in the name of Jesus they would not sting me, three of them in fact did impact me in that manner.

In seeking the Lord about the experience and what is to be learned from it, he has shown me a few parallels in the spiritual realm. While I meant no harm to the wasps, their instinct was to respond out of fear as they thought they were going to be destroyed. So too, we as humans can be moved by the spirit of fear if we are not fully controlled by Love. Only true and perfect love can cast out fear according to the Word of God, the Holy Bible. So many of us have hurt others and been hurt. It all goes back to fear.

Sometimes that fear has anger, hatred or bitterness layered upon it, worn like a mask And that’s one lesson from the wasps today.

Another lesson, is how subtle the satanic realm is. As we are blithely going along trying to live our lives, even do good, we can be surprised by the unseen. All of a sudden, evil will spring forth in attack.

Sometimes we have allowed cracks in our Spiritual armor that gives opportunity. But sometimes, as I was reminded earlier while reading a book called Emerald Eyes by Lois Vogel-Sharp, we live in a world that has evil alive and working because it was given permission by man to dwell in this realm and influence our behaviors and our emotions.

The Word tells us that we are not ignorant of the enemy’s devices.

We must stay alert by leaning into God. We do this by embracing Him in worship that comes directly from the depths of our spiritual being and by continuing to read and meditate upon the Word of God, the Bible.

Worship is a deep topic in and of itself. I would encourage you to be aware of how you can worship the Lord in spirit and in truth daily. That’s where the rubber meets the road for me and for you. It’s not about an experience on Sunday mornings. When we have an experience in church, I hope that that is merely an extension of what is going on for us on a regular basis outside of that setting. And I hope that we don’t confuse praise, volume and emotion with true worship.

God bless you this evening, morning or afternoon as you read this passage and beyond.