Daily PresenceSample

I’ve always had a bit of a difficult time watching Animal Planet. I love the scenery, the beauty of wildlife and the sense of nature I experience but I’m not a huge fan of watching animals eat each other alive! For me, sea life is the most brutal to view. Some of their hunting tactics absolutely blow my mind and give me nightmares.

There exists a particular sea creature whose tongue is literally shaped like a worm. I know… disgusting, but just try to imagine it for a moment. This animal sits on the ocean floor with its mouth wide open and wiggles its worm-like tongue until an unsuspecting fish who thinks it’s found a quick meal, gets too close. When its prey is satisfactorily convinced, it snaps its giant mouth shut and swallows its lunch whole. Who comes up with this stuff! What was God thinking? I suppose I’ll never know but I certainly would have never guessed this sedentary fish on the bottom of the ocean floor would be such a vicious predator. Props to him.

In Judges, there is an epic war waging. The Israelist’s enemy King flees the scene in a last ditch effort to survive. Unbeknownst to him, a predator lurks not far from the fight. Jael, a woman who was never meant to be the hero, sees her moment and acts fast. She lures in the enemy King and when he falls asleep, drives a tent peg through his head and wins the war! That kind of stuff is nothing short of “hard-core.”

I wonder what she was doing the day before the King came along asking for a safe place to stay. She probably didn’t expect God to use her in such a legendary way, but I know she was ready anyway. Even when we don’t expect it, we should be prepared for God to move in our life. We may not be at the front lines, we may not be the obvious choice, but if we are prepared spiritually, He may use us even if we are just sitting in a tent outside of town. If we are committed to God in everything big and small, we might just get the chance of a lifetime and become the hero of the day.