Did you ever consider how much of our experiences are prophetic? Foreshadowing, for you non-christian intellectual types.
A few nights ago, I was working in the office at 12:30 am. I heard ungodly screaming coming from my master bedroom, and my first thought was, “wow, that sounds demonic!” It was just a couple of cats.
A black cat had entered our home and got into our bedroom before our resident kitty, Isaac realized his presence and sounded the alarm. It was an awful way for my wife to wake up! I go flying down the hall, flip on the light, the black cat tries to scurry out past me when the light came on so I pinned it to the floor with my left hand. I was more than a little forceful and trying not to get scratched, the cat was more than a little forceful as it was fighting to breathe, and after a towel being placed over the cat, a firm grasp and delivery downstairs and a long toss out the front door, our home was put back to it’s normal peaceful state.
What bothered me about the situation is that I actually considered just holding the cat’s throat shut until it expired, and then tossing it into my garbage can. I was so outraged about the intrusion into my home, waking up my family, my own (minor) loss of blood. That cat had caused prior infections for my poor declawed kitty in the past, and killing it seemed a convenient solution to future problems. Fortunately for the cat, it was able to walk away. After my wife’s comments about how sweet that kitty is when it’s not on our property, I was glad I didn’t take vengeance into my own hands.
OK, so what’s the prophetic peice? Sin enters our environment often when we are most vulnerable, groggy, our defenses are down and we are usually the most unprepared when temptation or circumstances invade our space. I think you can agree that a black cat at midnight mayrepresent sin in this analogy. Our response, if we are not exercising self-control with a sound mind, may be a little extreme–or a lot extreme. We are responsible to take action and toss out the invader, but it is not a proper or acceptable response to allow anger and rage (even righteous indignation) to cause our behavior to slip even further into a different type of sin. Unfortunately, this is what Christians often do.
Thank you, black kitty, for the life-lesson. I am praying for your recovery as my scratches heal.