Bees. Specifically hornets. You know it is summer when these little “friends” come out to play. I am fully aware there is a legitimate reason for hornets and that God created them with a purpose for our ecosystem, but can I just say…I don’t like them one bit.
With the final switch to beautiful weather, we put to work getting our deck ready for summer. We swept it clean, brought out the patio furniture, planted some herbs and flowers and even bought new cushions and pillows to liven up our aging patio set. My favorite addition was our sand and water table for our soon-to-be 2-year-old daughter. She loves to be outside, and I could just picture myself reading leisurely while she played for hours on end. But my image of a perfect day at home was quickly thwarted by my nemesis the hornet.
It seemed that almost as soon as we had finished the final detail that the hornets came out of hiding, and they were not happy to be sharing the deck with us. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had visions of this deck being a great location, as the hornets were working on setting up a nest of their own. These hornets quickly began showing us they were less than thrilled at the idea of coexisting, and so we ran for cover inside our home. The hornets continued to fly right into our patio door as if to warn us that we were NOT going to enjoy the patio we worked so hard on. Needless to say, I was furious! My daughter was crying to go outside and I could see this beautiful area where we were going to spend our summer, but some pesky hornets were keeping us from enjoying something that was already ours!
It didn’t take long for me to realize that so often this is just like our own spiritual life. God has great things prepared for us. The Word says in John 9:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” God has a full life planned for us, and yet the enemy would want nothing more than to keep us from enjoying what God has prepared. Just like the hornets who tried to claim our deck, the enemy will try to cause you to retreat and give up on enjoying a fulfilling life that God has for you. So often we give up too early. We just let the enemy take things that are rightfully ours. Whether it is peace of mind, our health, our finances, our marriages or children, we just assume that he has control and there is nothing we can do about it. We sit at the window looking at what we “could be” enjoying, and we allow him to scare us out of our spiritual inheritance. This got me thinking. I am bigger than a hornet. I know…you are shocked at the very thought. But seriously, think about it. Yes there are many instances when hornets can be deadly, but only when they are allowed to inhabit an area and come in swarms or if you happen to have an allergy. If we put this in spiritual terms, the enemy will build a home wherever YOU let him. God had given us authority over Satan. The Bible tells us that if we “…resist the devil and he WILL flee from you” (James 4:7). We have stopped resisting. We have just accepted that we will never enjoy a life where our whole family is serving God, that we will never walk in financial freedom, or that we will forever deal with this illness or that emotional issue. We have stopped resisting and we are sitting at the door of our inheritance watching the hornets make their nest.
How do we resist? We pray, we stand on the promises of God’s Word, we speak the truth, and we declare things that are not as though they were. We grab our spiritual can of Raid and start spraying so the enemy flees! We take back what the enemy has stolen from us.
As I began to allow this to sink in, I had an even greater resolve that I was going to take back my patio. We bought Raid, researched natural ways to deter hornets…anything we could think of to get rid of our unwanted guests. Finally, there was a day of rain and we knew they would not be out flying. My husband bravely grabbed the can of Raid and sprayed into the area we knew they were forming their nest. Shortly after, the hornets flew out and we saw the nest go with them.
The next day we enjoyed our deck in the beautiful sun. We had lunch while our daughter played and it was just wonderful. Sure, a hornet or two would fly by every now and then, but it was not going to make its home on my deck. We had taken back what was rightfully ours, and it was going to stay that way. Just because we take back what the devil has stolen doesn’t mean he won’t come back again to try to take up residence. But we will be ready. We are alert, and our can of Raid is never too far from reach.