It really didn’t seem to matter what I tried I could not catch that mouse. He stole from snap traps, tiptoed around sticky pads and shunned poison with impish distain. His most annoying habit was climbing the leg to the tabletop to search for crumbs while staking out his territory with droppings.
Stumped but not discouraged, I went online in search of help. There were several descriptions of a simple but ingenious trap using a paper towel roll.
The cardboard paper towel tube is placed on the table or countertop with about half the tub extending off the edge. An empty wastebasket is placed under the tube. The extended end of the tube is then baited with peanut butter or chocolate. The mouse enters the tabled end of the tube in pursuit of the bait. When he passes a certain point the tube tips over and politely deposits him in the wastebasket.
Well thats the way it worked for your average mouse but not for ‘savvy’ as Id come to call him. Claustrophobic about the inside of the tube, he tried to get at the bait from the outside. Hence when the tube tried to feed him to the wastebasket monster he landed on the floor and was gone like a shot. The tube gave him a great scare but he escaped which meant I could trash the trap, he'd never go near it again.
Tru dat, so much so, I could now place any size paper tube on the table and he conceded the territory. I quickly pressed my advantage with tissue tubes on the counter and sink, not traps, just harmless tubes. Psyched-out, Savvy was forced to retreat before the paper predators all the way to his hole behind the fridge. Their advance ignored his now frantic territorial droppings. Still thinking on his feet though, savvy moved to my neighbors house before the inevitable yawning jaws of a tissue tube at his doorway.
I was feeling a little smug about having played on the mind of the mouse when it occurred to me that the enemy of my soul had played on me in like manner many times. He plants harmless but scary illusions before us hoping we will retreat from our blessings or our commitment to walk with God. He shows us swallowed up by debt, betrayed by our spouse , a lump in the body somewhere and we retreat into self-preservation mode. The problem part of self-preservation is the 'self.'
When fear replaces faith, self replaces God at the center of our being. How big is this? Its huge. There is no commandment given in the bible more often than fear not from Genesis: fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward(15:1) to Revelations: 'fear not [John] I am the beginning and the end (1:17) Both in terms of the challenges we face and our worldly needs Gods policy on fear is zero tolerance! In the book of Deuteronomy God calls the fearful out from the army of Israel and sends then home lest their fear infect the others. (Deut 20:1-8) They were not fit for Gods service.
This hard reality is true for us as well when, having all his '..great and precious promises', we are afraid to stand on them. When we have fled the fortress of faith we are subject to the proverbial brick wall in the midst of our flight. Though we have no immunity to feelings of fear, dread, or worry, the children of God have authority over the things that fear forecasts: sickness, poverty, death. Having power over fire shall we flee from smoke? David king of Israel, when his fights and flights from Saul and Absalon had taught him this truth, cried: '..O thou most High, [at] what time I am afraid I will trust in thee.' (Ps 56:3-4) Gods instruction on fear is clear and pervasive. "Thou shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day..' "For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind.' (Ps91:5; 2Tim 1:7)
We must be urgent to sow this Word in our spirit and nourish it there. It will yield a fighting competence in our spiritual warfare and the moxy to stay on the field when the fight gets scary.
When our own roof is leaking we can keep right on building the house of our neighbor; the appearance of scarcity
Will not stop our giving, nor danger defer the profession of our faith.
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