I was relaxing on the back deck last week (on one of the first warm sunny days of the year!) … when crunch, crunch, crunch … out of the woods trotted three deer. The leader of the group paused at the base of the deck to survey whether or not I was a threat. Then after a few moments, they all three proceeded to go underneath the deck/house.
I wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. I wasn’t sure if this was an ok thing or not. (Our house is built completely up off the ground, hanging suspended on huge giant wooden pillars.)
As I was pondering whether or not this was an ok thing … crunch, crunch, crunch … out of the woods trotted a fourth deer. It too paused at the base of the deck to give me a good survey. Then it too proceeded to join the other three underneath the house.
I was not fond of having four deer hanging out and chillin’ underneath my house. There are gas lines down there, and water lines, and sewer lines. If the deer were to get spooked and bolt, they might knock loose the sewer lines, or water lines, or gas lines! That would not be good. At all!
So, I proceeded to go down there and confront the deer.
Here you can see one of the deer all relaxed and chillin’. The other two were way back underneath the house, exploring the underneath side of my kitchen, while the fourth was puzzling over the sewer line which was blocking its path.
I told the deer to get out from under my house!
They reluctantly obliged.
I headed inside but kept a close eye out the back windows. Sure enough, in no time at all, the deer (all sneaky-like) moseyed back around and once more disappeared underneath the deck/house.
This will not do!
I grabbed a bathroom hand-towel and with great purpose went underneath the house again … this time hollering and flinging the hand-towel around violently, like a wild crazy woman!
Here you can see the deer’s reaction. It just stood there and stared at me … as if to say: “No … I won’t leave. You can’t make me.”
Later that evening, hubby was cruising around the back yard on his riding lawn-mower, while I was in the garden, weeding.
Suddenly, much to my great surprise … one of the deer went trotting right past where I was weeding … and … bold as brass, it trotted right past hubby on his loud, noisy riding lawn mower!
“That deer is headed for underneath the house again,” was my immediate thought. It had an obvious guilty look, like a 2-year-old trying to be sneaky.
From where I was weeding in the garden, I had a clear view of the entire underneath of the house. Sure enough, a few moments later when I glanced up, there were two deer back underneath our house again! Bold as brass! They had gone under the house right past hubby on his loud, noisy riding lawn mower!
That does it!!
I stood up! … grabbed my shovel for good measure! … stormed across the yard toward the house … and as I neared the deck, I raised my shovel into charging position and full-on charged underneath the house … right at the deer!!
They were taken aback. They weren’t expecting that.
In yesterday’s blog post I talked about how God will protect those who love Him … but we can’t be stupid and go to places where we should not be.
Just like the little slugs, which have been given incredible camouflage for protection, and yet they choose to go into harmful places (the middle of the road!) … so also God’s protection for us won’t be there if we choose to go into places where we do not belong.
These places might be literal physical places … but more often than not they are mental places … emotional places … spiritual places.
We choose to go to a place of bitterness. That place of bitterness is not a place where we should be! God does not want us in that place. Just like I don’t want the deer underneath my house! Bitterness is from the demonic. If we go to a place of bitterness, God’s protection will not be with us … and we in turn, will make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. The enemy now has a foothold into our mind and into our life.
Do not go to that place! You do not belong in a place of bitterness.
Or what about a place of unforgiveness? Do not go there! You do not belong in that place.
Or what about a place of despair? Debilitating depression. Do not go there. You do not belong in that place.
God has promised His protection for those who love Him. But He cannot cover and protect us if we are in a place where God does not want us to be.
A huge part of God’s protection for us is the Holy Spirit’s power and presence in our lives. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom … and guidance … and direction. The Holy Spirit’s wisdom protects us! The Holy Spirit’s guidance protects us! The Holy Spirit’s presence protects us!
But if we have chosen to mentally go to a harmful place, then we will have blocked/quenched the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we are listening to the whispers which evil spirits speak into our minds, then we will not be able to hear the Holy Spirit. And we will not be protected by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to renew our minds! The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to guide our thoughts. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to protect our minds! The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring us peace.
But none of this can happen if we have blocked/quenched the Holy Spirit by choosing to go and “hang out” in a harmful place. Just like the deer choosing to “hang out” underneath my house.
And just like the deer … when the Holy Spirit tells us that we need to get out of that place where we do not belong … we too just stand and stare, as if saying: “No … I won’t leave. You can’t make me.”
