Through divine binoculars

Whenever I travel, I always pray that God will use the journey to teach me spiritual lessons. There have been many times that He's answered that prayer. My most recent trip to Africa was one of those times.

One of my greatest desires during our safari was to see a predator attack and devour its prey. I'm not normally a violent person, but I thought that it would be thrilling to watch. Plus, I hoped it would be a vivid reminder for me as a Christian when I was faced with a spiritual attack of my own. As much as I searched for it, I never witnessed a deadly attack. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but I realized that God's lesson for me was not in the attack itself. The lesson was in the understanding of how the predator operates and the wisdom of the prey to defend itself.

Where the prey is, so is the predator
We were blessed to be able to see many predators, including lions, cheetahs, and hyenas. One of the first things I noticed about these crafty creatures is how well they study their prey. They spend large amounts of time just observing the prey's activities. They know their victims habits and patterns of movement, following them wherever they go. One afternoon as we drove through the Serengeti I noticed it was quite barren. I asked our guide where all the predators were. He told me that since the annual wildebeest and zebra migration was still south of the area, that's where the predators were. I couldn't help but think of those verses in Job and Peter that talked about Satan, our enemy, prowling back and forth through the earth looking for someone to devour. At that moment those verses became real to me. Knowing that the enemy is actively pursuing me, and studying my patterns of behavior in order to take me down made me more aware of the spiritual battle that surrounds me.

Patience is a predator's virtue
One reason I never witnessed a take-down of any kind was because it takes a long time for it to come to pass. Our first cheetah encounter was that of a mother and her 4 cubs, who had spotted some gazelles grazing a short distance away. We knew they wanted to make them the main course of their evening dinner so we waited. And waited. After 25 minutes they had only moved a few inches closer to them. I knew this would take some time but with 2 antsy children in the jeep, time was not on my side. I left that potential attack with great disappointment, but a little wiser as well. A predator will stalk its prey with diligent patience so as to guarantee a successful capture. They are in no hurry when the prey is in sight. The same is true for us. Like the cheetah who watched from the sidelines, the devil will wait for one of God's children to fall, trip, or tumble into a trap he has set. He wants to make sure the net falls just right so there is no chance of escape and he'll wait for as long as it takes.

Favoring the young and the weak
We are an animal loving family so it was hard to pass by the carcasses lying around everywhere. It was even harder to watch the vultures rip them apart and fight over them. But the one thing that struck me was how small the remains were. When I mentioned my observation to our guide, he explained the obvious -- the predators go after the young babies and the weaker animals because they are easier to take down. Their lack of experience in an attack or their simple naivete make them a favorite of the predators. This really struck a chord with me. I knew then and there that if I was going to win the spiritual battles that were raging around me I needed to GROW UP spiritually. I needed to become armed and dangerous to fight the predator who pursued me daily. That meant knowing the Word better, clothing myself in God's armor, and growing a dependence on God like never before. I did not want to be an easy kill for Satan; I was going to be a strong adversary who would not go easily.

Most of the lessons God showed me on my safari I already knew, but I think looking at them through divine binoculars made them more real and personal. Thankfully, God didn't just leave me with only half the learning. The rest of the lessons came from observations of the prey. I'll share those with you next time.....