Some animals do NOT behave like their reputation in children’s books.
Take the eagle and the osprey. The osprey is a huge fish hawk that will search patiently 100 feet above water until it dive-bombs a catch. It can even carry heavy fish long distances.
Then there’s the eagle — a majestic American icon. Also a bully. Once the osprey makes a catch, the eagle bolts from his perch to steal it for himself. While the osprey is a huge bird, the eagle is just a little bigger. Just a little faster. And just a little meaner to take what he didn’t earn in one fell swoop.
Have you ever felt like you worked hard for something only to have it stolen by someone else?
The Israelites understood. In the Old Testament days of the judges, God’s people rebelled against Him until they were forced to serve a wicked kingdom of thieves: the Midianites. Scripture explains, “whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites would come … devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel. They would come like locusts in number so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian” (Judges 6:3).
No sustenance.
Land laid waste.
Israel brought low.
Everything God’s people planted, watered, and harvested was stolen. The Midianites even brought their livestock to feast on Israel’s produce just to make sure there was nothing left. God’s people were devastated. Their physical condition mirrored their spiritual reality.
As always, when things got bad enough, God’s children cried out to Him. They needed a Savior, a warrior to rise up and deliver them. God chose an unlikely man, threshing wheat in secret, in order to hide it from the Midianites. His name was Gideon.
Maybe you’ve had something precious stolen from you. Something you built over years suddenly crashed to the ground: Your kids, your health, your reputation, your finances, your business. It seems the eagle has swooped in to devour what was yours.
But this is not the whole story for the children of God. When the entire emotional, financial, and physical landscape of our lives seems to be “laid waste,” by an unseen enemy, there is good news: We have the Greater Gideon.
At the cross Jesus defeated the greatest thief – our own sin. No matter what happens on this earth, our eternity is secure. Satan can never steal what Christ earned for you. Indeed it was our Lord who robbed the grave. Our eternity is secure. Here are 6 other things the enemy can’t steal from you:
- God’s love for you: Because of Jesus we are lavished with a Romans 8 love. It’s permanent. It’s constant. It endures through famine, persecution, angels and demons, height and depth — even the future. His love remains on his children.
. - Fruit God has brought from your life: Real authentic fruit, produced by the holy spirit will last. It is the authentic work of God himself, and it will not burn up or prove worthless even if you can’t see the result now. If you have breath, there is much more fruit for you to bear for his glory.
. - Your intimacy with Christ: In place of every loss, he gives more of himself. We have a near and present Savior who tends to us daily. He is not aloof or unsympathetic. He cares about us and he makes us ready to meet him face to face. He is for our good always.
. - Christ’s glory: Our culture is dark and getting darker. It often seems like the kingdom of God is shrinking while the enemy advances–it’s a lie. The lamb of God is seated on his throne at the right hand of the father being worshipped night and day. There is no darkness that steals any fragment of his glory. As Joseph reminds us, what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good. Christ will keep being glorified. He will save souls. He will advance his kingdom. No darkness stops his plan, and no darkness steals one fragment of his glory.
. - Your inheritance: Spurgeon says, “ I do not think any man can exaggerate the possibilities that lie before believers.” We have a sure and concrete inheritance in heaven where we will dwell with Christ. Heaven is a literal place where we will live with literal glorified bodies. There will be no more sin, no more death, and no more separation. Loss has a way of bringing heaven into sharp focus before us, reminding us that our true home awaits.
. - God’s righteous justice over sin: Not one thing wrongly stolen from you escapes his notice. Just as there was a reckoning for the Midianites, so there will be reckoning for all evil. Either we come under the cross of Jesus where God’s wrath was poured out on his son, or we will suffer that wrath on our own for all eternity. Justice is coming.
It’s an awful feeling to see something you built stolen out from under you. Trust the one who is building the greater kingdom. Speak, write and sing about the things that can’t be stolen from you — things the lamb earned with his own blood that are yours through faith. Trust him and watch for real kingdom beauty to rise from the ashes. Not one part of his word will fail. He will restore every single year the locusts have eaten. In one fell swoop.