Among Wolves

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Mt 10:16 AV)

Sorry, but the LORD is not going to remove all wolves, so the preaching of the gospel becomes easier.  Nor is He going to withhold you from the wolves.  Whether we like it or not, the LORD sends us among those who would do us harm in search of those who need saving.  That is the way of the great commission.  The answer is not in escape.  Nor is it in accommodation.  Wolves are wolves.  They will always be wolves.  They will not adjust.  There will be a harm to us.  There is no sense is wishing the world was different.  It will always be adversarial.  There is no changing this.  Our job is to be wise and aware.  That is the meaning of the illusion to the serpent and the dove.  The serpent moves and maneuvers.  He thinks ahead.  He becomes a threat if a predator gets too close.  The dove is very weary.  He watches for everything.  He does not escape to a new field.  The covey simply removes itself from immediate harm and continues what it was doing before the wolf arrived.  The gospel is fraught with common threats.  It is a dangerous pursuit.  We are not to leave our field.  We are to figure a way to be effective.  We are not to resent the threat.  We are to come up with a work-around.

Wolves are spooky creatures.  I just saw a short video of a black wolf crossing the road.  I didn’t realize how big they were.  This creature was as tall as the hood of the car and as long as the car was wide.  Frightening.  However, the first encounter I had with these fearsome beasts came while deer hunting in Wisconsin.  Other than the zoo, I had never heard nor seen one of these creatures.  It was many years ago.  My oldest had just turned old enough to have a hunting license.  My pastor was in the hospital with appendicitis and his son needed an adult chaperone.  I was charged with keeping to teenagers safe.  What made this even more difficult was the place we went hunting was unfamiliar to me.  I had only hunted it twice before.  It was a flat area of overgrowth and marshes.  If the hunter could not discern direction, he would be lost forever!  What made this experience even more unbearable was the meal we had the night before.  We had a roast with onions and carrots in the pot.  Not for me!  Too much acid.  I was sick for a good twenty hours.  We got up early enough.  As we dressed, we went over some safety rules.  Then the entire party went outside to head off into the unknown.  Because these teenagers move like snails, we were left alone.  It was me and the two boys.  Waiting for my pastor’s son to finally make his arrival, my eldest and I were outside.  Then I heard it.  I heard the howls of wolves.  If you have never heard this sound, it is eerie, to say the least.  Their howls go right through you.  There is no other way to describe it.  It was worse than all the horror films have depicted it.  But off into the woods, we must go.  My two young charges had no idea.  Nor did they care.  They wanted to go out there and fill the freezer.  That pack of wolves was all I cared about.  There was no other choice.  We had to go!  It was our duty to feed our family.

Evangelism is tough.  The vast majority of those with whom we converse are antagonistic toward the good news.  We are faced with slammed doors, insults, and outright attacks.  It is only going to get worse.  We may think we have won the war, but we have only won a battle.  If the saints think for a minute, the devil feels defeated; we have better wake up.  The adversaries of God will double down.  They will come after the saints harder than they ever have before.  The time of persecution is coming.  The Bible tells us the AntiCHrist will wear out the saints.  The wolves will regroup.  They will come up with a different strategy.  What they will not do is recede into their dens and wave a white flag.  When Jesus comes, the vast majority of the world comes out against Him.  They will fight and lose at the battle of Armageddon.  After the millennial reign of Christ, the devil is loosed from hell and stirs the vast majority of mankind against Jesus again.  This time at the final battle of God and Magog.  They will lose there, too.  The point is this.  The wolves will never stop.  This is part of God’s plan.  The Great Commission will be conducted while surrounded by adversity.  There is no peace.  That is why the gospel of peace has relevance.  There is contrast between the peace God offers through forgiveness and the turmoil caused by the wolves.  Christian service is troublesome.  It always will be.  If we are going to be effective, we have to accept the conditions of service.