Breaking through

 January 27, 2023

“[My enemies] surrounded me like bees.” —Psalm 118:12

I’m no expert on bees, but I’ve had a bit of experience with them over the years, presently owning four colonies of honeybees which I hope make it through the winter. Most people, including my wife, think I must be a bit balmy to want to work with anywhere from 10,000 to 80,000 of these little critters per colony, but I find them fascinating. Linda and I occasionally spar lightheartedly about them, me telling her that only the females sting, and she reminding me that the drones (males) are freeloaders, serving only to mate with the queen. Each fall they are unceremoniously drubbed out of the hive to die, having outlived their usefulness. 

One thing about honeybees is they are generally far more docile than most people give them credit. You don’t bother them; they won’t bother you…which is what makes this psalm interesting. If you are surrounded by bees, there’s usually only one reason: you have disturbed their home. People have asked me about getting stung when I’m harvesting honey. My stock answer is, “If I broke into your home, rearranged all the furniture, got into your child’s room, and stole the money you’ve saved to tide you over the winter, wouldn’t you get a bit upset?” 

If your enemy is surrounding you like bees, you can be pretty sure you’ve invaded his home territory and he isn’t too happy about it. For the Christian, the enemy is Satan and all his infernal demonic host. As Christians, we can cavort all around the world, sing and dance, praise and pray all we want, as long as we aren’t upsetting the devil’s home. But as soon as we break into his home and start poking around, he gets upset. 

If the Enemy of your soul is surrounding you with his demonic hoards, aggressively buzzing and stinging you, you can be sure of one thing: you have hit home. So don’t start feeling defensive; don’t fret and whine about your troubles. They are a sign that you’re on the right track. The Enemy is buzzing about because you are messing up his neat little world. 

So when troubles are buzzing around you and you’re getting stung, don’t give up. It just means you’ve broken through the devil’s stronghold, and if you keep going, there’s honey on the other side.