Last night I heard them again … the
critters … the mice that had left their droppings in our utensil drawer. I had
been sleeping in the Blue Room right off the kitchen (not because I was in the
dog house but because our niece, Lily, is staying with us) and at about 2300 I’d
hear a mouse or mice rummaging through our kitchen drawers – dirty rats! Mind you,
this is a rental house that we’ve only been in a month. At our house in
Livingston we had two possums living under our house. It seems like these crazy
animals are drawn to us.
Anyway, being the
good wife that she is, Amanda was proactive and got some traps. Of course,
being the good husband I am, I baited them and placed them. After placing them,
Amanda and Lily went back to our bedroom to settle down and watch a movie
because I was in the Blue Room watching Hurt
Locker and didn’t want our visiting 11 year old niece to watch a war movie.
So I’m sitting there watching the EOD guys do their thing and all of a sudden –
SNAP – and then the twitching and kicking of an animal trying to escape its
inevitable death.
Sure enough, I put
the movie on pause, walked over to the drawer, slid it open and Jerry mouse was
twitching the last few seconds of his life away. Out of respect for the dying (I
don’t think it was that formal to be honest with you but I’m just trying to
make this thing dramatic) I closed the door and allowed him to go home to the
great Cheese Head in the sky alone. He died alone!
Of course, I felt
compelled to share this great victory with Amanda so I went to the room and
told her that with 15 minutes of putting out the trap we had our first KIA. She
had a look of disgust on her face but asked, “How big is it?” That planted a
seed in my mind: “Why not take a picture of it and text it to her?” I did. Haha.
Amanda heard the second trap snap around 0200 and sure enough, the mice
community had sent out a second mouse either for recovery or recon. Either way,
it paid the ultimate price.
Now this morning –
while I’m doing my Bible study – these mice came back to mind and as God so
often does, He uses them for an illustration. These mice – in some people’s
mind – weren’t doing anything to hurt anybody. Maybe so but they were where
they weren’t supposed to be and they were taking a dump there to spite us! Knowing
that mice want food, Amanda and I set out a trap with bait we knew would be
attractive to them.
Isn’t that how
Satan works us? Think about it! Think about the Garden of Eden.
1
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made.
One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from
any of the trees in the garden?”
2
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3
“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not
allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you
will die.’”
4
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that
your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God,
knowing both good and evil.”
6
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit
looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some
of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and
they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together
to cover themselves.
Satan knew exactly what Eve wanted!
He knew the desire was for that which looked, smelled, and in fact, tasted
good. But it was that very thing – that bite – that forced the trap to snap
down on her “neck,” break it, and choke the very life that she was searching
for right out of her.
Aren’t we all like that? Don’t we go
after what looks good, what’s appetizing, knowing full well that it’s not the
best? It’s not God’s will that we simply feed our appetites. We are to be fed –
by the Spirit. We are to be filled – by the Spirit. We are not to feed the
flesh.
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