Thieves in the Night

by Rollie J.

Things were missing from the deck. The thief had come in the middle of the night. Clues were left behind in the form of tracks. I had more than a strong hunch as to the perpetrator. Thank God our sliding door was locked or they would have probably entered the house. I wondered if this was a one shot deal or if they would be back to try again.

Last Friday evening was a gorgeous fall-like night. Rare in this summer of oppressive heat. Often in the spring and fall when no mosquitos are present, and it cools down enough, I enjoy sleeping outside under the moon and stars in our back yard hammock. I love falling asleep to the gentle rocking motion and I like listening to the breeze and sounds of the night and enjoy awaking to the sunrise of a cool morning.

Last Friday night was all of the above, and I soon dozed off, cozily tucked in my warm sleeping bag. Around 2 a.m. I awoke groggy from a deep dream, to the sounds of noises near the deck, so I quickly came to full alert.

I quietly rolled on to my side to try and pinpoint the source of the sounds and soon had audio radar-lock on the situation. My pulse quickened. I could easily hear the distinctive sounds of scratching coming from the oak tree that grows alongside our deck. After a minute or so, I could barely make out the shadowy hunched-back silhouette of the intruder as he quietly scuttled onto and across the deck. The scratching noises continued and soon two more shadows scuttled out onto the deck. These three intruders were here to steal again, and I knew exactly who they were; our little masked bandit neighbors, the raccoon family. They had once again successfully executed a covert “night-op” to partake of the free smorgasbord of our dog Bruno’s food! No wonder Bruno was looking skinny and his bowl was licked clean every morning!

Raccoons are almost always nocturnal, and they love to sneak around and cause mischief in the wee hours of the night where shadow and darkness hide their movements. In this case they were quietly robbing Bruno of proper nutrition, enjoyment, and heath. The thieves were stealing life.

I think we as Christians are similarly vulnerable to the same situation. The devil loves to lurk in the dark shadows of our thoughts, to rob us of life, vitality, enjoyment, peace, and contentment.

The Devil loves to rob us of our true selves. The best way he does this is through his frightful tool called comparison. If he can steal our true God given self and replace it with who we wish, or hope, or want to be he has won. Any time we compare ourselves to someone else we lose. When we compare our talents, skills, looks, jobs, status, possessions, achievements, or successes to someone else we often come up short. This robs us of God’s peace and contentment. Watch your use of Facebook as you compare yourself to others who seem and appear to lead these perfect lives. Social media has a way of distorting reality.

Discouragement is often another of his strongest and most frequently used tools. If he can pry open the lid on our thoughts just a tish, to pour even small doses of discouragement into our thought processes, we will likely succumb and give in to negative thinking. The slippery slide of discouragement leads to self-pity, pessimism, resentment, bitterness, apathy, hatred, blame, regret, resentment, anger, and agitation. We never see him come or go, only find that we’re left with nothing but an empty bowl.

Another way we are robbed of God’s serenity is through constant fear, worry, and anxiety. This unholy trinity always focuses on the future, on tomorrow, on next week, or next year and robs us of the joy of living in today. All anxiety is future based. We all wrestle with these scary monsters, yet now under the dark confusing clouds of uncertainty brought on by the Covid virus, many of us have even greater levels of dread and distress. Many of us are running on empty tanks that have been drained by constant anxiety. God promises us His grace for today only. Any energy we expend on worry and fear of tomorrow saps us of strength he has provided us for today.

So, protect your heart. Take your heart off the sleeve of the public deck and take it to the privacy of quiet time alone with God. Don’t lay out your heart for others to trample, steel or harm. Let God be the one to speak to your true nature through his Word and by the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. Your true being can only be found in God alone. God provides our spiritual and physical nutrition abundantly each day.

May you guard your heart and thought process with the complete armor of God.

-- Rollie J.