Small But Spunky Special

Special and the Stray Cat

                Glancing out the window soon after coming inside, I glimpsed the annoying stray tomcat. Inwardly, I groaned since I had just gotten out of my winter “choring” clothes. Not finding a minor catastrophe to handle that morning led me to anticipate a rewarding time of Bible study. Now the unwanted stray cat appeared.

 I paused a moment at the window and waited to see what would happen. Our beloved orange tomcats, Tailer2 and Striker, had finished eating. As they saw the stray tomcat slinking up to the cat feeding area, they chose to vacate that area rapidly.

Special, our white female cat, huddled on the winterized area next to the cat food containers. The winterized area is comprised of large pieces of heavy cardboard flattened and spread out with an old piece of outdoor carpeting thrown on top of it. Special had her back to the approaching intruder.

Cailea and Special. Cailea named Special when she visited her as a small
kitten. This photo was taken during their spring break visit in 2017.

Suddenly, she sensed his impending arrival. She rose from her comfy spot, turned to meet the unwanted cat, and moved toward him. As Special approached the stray tomcat, he began to run away from the feeding area.

I stood astounded. Mother had commented about how big and strong Tailer2 is. Yet the large, loveable cat is not much of a fighter. Striker can be protective of his area but in a passive aggressive way. Yet Special, the prissy-looking white feline, purposefully challenged the infringement by an unwanted cat into the cats’ feeding area.

As I caught sight of the stray cat’s long orange tail disappearing around the corner of the garage, the verse from James 4:7 came to my mind.

Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

            Accepting the will or authority of another defines submission. Submitting to God is an act of totally embracing His will and responding immediately to His authority. The word, resist, involves the act of counteracting an opposing force. We receive strength to resist or oppose the devil only by yielding our will to fully obey God’s Word and commands. This gives us strength to withstand the archenemy of God. Paul delineates the Word of God as the sole weapon when he describes the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18, specifically verse 17. He compares the Word of God to the sword of a Roman soldier.
            Each day we can prepare for attacks from the devil by bolstering our relationship with the Lord through Bible study, prayer, and seeking to obey with all our being what we have learned from the scripture. Then when we encounter an attack from the devil, our Heavenly Father will empower us to recall and follow wholeheartedly the directives and commands of the Bible. Just like Special watched the stray cat run away, we will see the devil bolt from us because of the power of His Word and the strength it gives. The devil departs from us for a season, waiting for another opportunity to wage a bout against us. Each time the strategy from James 4:7 will counteract his temptation.

Afterthought- Special is one of the smaller farm cats and doesn't look strong. Yet the stray cat escaped by the shortest route he could find.
Some of the strongest Christians appear weak, fraught with illness and adversity, but the tenacious way they cling to the Word, ingesting it and meditating on it throughout the day, makes them unbelievably strong. Only the strength of the Lord can empower those believers that we so admire to remain stalwart in Him day in and day out, through the hardships of life. 
The Amplified Bible describes aptly that weak-appearing godly person in Proverbs 28:1b - 

...but the (uncompromisingly) righteous are bold as a lion.

Lord, may we draw strength from You to withstand the devil. Enable us to store Your Word in our hearts and bring those verses to our memory at exactly the time we need to combat the devil.