Keeping An Open Eye

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 Burglars are afoot in my town. Just a few weeks ago, a neighbor of mine had her back door kicked in and several thousand dollars worth of valuables were taken from her home. The thieves had been lurking around her home for a while, leaving footprints in the snow, before finally breaking in while no one was home.

Apparently, there have been over sixty burglaries in our area over the last few months. Our cars were unlocked last summer, and we had a GPS and phone taken, along with some other miscellaneous stuff. But we didn't know doors were being kicked in.

We've inadvertently left our garage door open over night. More than once. Obviously, we were far more careless in doing so than we imagined.

Even though it is creepy that people are breaking into houses and stealing things, it is far worse that I allow the devil, the thief, to steal from me.

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly, " (John 10:10.)

My eyes are easily distracted by what I see in front of me—the messy house, the piles of laundry, the calendar full of things to do—and instead of keeping a watch out for my enemy, I get bogged down.

Meanwhile, he is free to steal my joy, my peace, and he openly robs me of my sense of hope and security. I practically hand it to him the way I dismiss a child asking me for a cookie while I'm talking on the phone to someone.


In a devotional I read today, the late David Wilkerson wrote:

"In our most trying times, we are faced with a choice. We either must trust God with our life and future, or we must charge him with willful negligence."

I am not about to charge God with willfully neglecting me. He is God. He is Sovereign. He knows what He is doing.

No matter how fiery my trial, if my eyes are fixed on Him, then I will be protected, just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, when they were cast into the furnace for not worshipping the golden idol of Nebuchadnezzar. 

If my focus is on Jesus, then my witness through the "flames" will cause others to cry out, like Nebuchadnezzar, "Look! I see. . ."



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