My dog is lying beside me and a low deep guttural sound is emanating from somewhere deep in her. Sometimes this happens when she is dreaming but she is not dreaming. She is sensing something outside that I do not. I have come to respect her senses. They are much keener than mine. I know that even if I had the senses of a healthy twenty-year-old there are things above and below my senses I cannot perceive. I mention this because so many of us are sure things are true only if we can sense them.
Then there is our ego. Many years ago at our college a Christian magician displayed some of his wonder. Many of our students were convinced he was in league with Satan because they couldn’t figure out how he did it. After all they “were so very smart they could figure out anything!” It was a case of pure intellectual conceit.
This morning my wife and I stood in a field waiting for a hot-air balloon ride. There was not a cloud in the sky. We thought it was perfect. Then the pilot released a small child’s balloon. Once it got about fifty feet into the air it quickly took off in the direction of Boston. Obviously we did not fly this morning. We couldn’t see them but the air currents would have taken us where we didn’t want to go.
There are many forces in this world we cannot see or are above our intellects. Many want to take us where we don’t want to go. The things we read, we watch, we listen to have more effect on us than we can imagine. Ephesians 6:14 is a great admonition for all of us.
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 12, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org