Buzzing Bees and Faith

"In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;"  Ephesians 6

Recently I went to friend's house nearby.  They  acquired two bee hives and over 10,000 bees to raise and harvest honey. Once we got there, the friend looked at me and said, "Rochelle, do you want to see the bees?" I said, "Sure!" 
She took me to the garden shed where I put on all the gear:  boots, gloves, suit, screen helmet, and was armed with a smoker.  I looked like an alien.  We headed toward the hives.  As I got closer, the buzzing orchestra got louder.  Soon I was enveloped with bees and buzzing. I could feel their vibrations as they swarmed around my face, neck, and hands.

Part of my brain panicked, saying "Get out of there! You're surrounded!"  The other part of my brain said, "Just stay calm.  They can't hurt you through your protections.".  I listened to the second voice and how amazing it was.  Soon the buzzing, instead of threatening, became neutralized.  I was able to look closely at their hive, the beautiful artistic coves filling with golden honey.  I was able to watch their dances and song. I was part of their world for a few short moments. Fear was gone. The stingers were useless against me.

I could have never come that close to their world without my protections and voice saying, "Stay calm". 

Often in doing God's work we encounter the stings of the evil world:  trouble, tribulation, attacks and voices of temptation. Ephesians 6 calls it "the flaming darts of the evil one".  Those have a tremendous bite!  But we are called to get to the honey ---- how can we do that with nothing but skin between us and the stinger?  We must put on some kind of outside protection, not of our own making. In ourselves we will be overtaken by the bees' wrathful attack.

God tells us not to rely on our power --- but through faith, to take up His shield.  God is the shield.  In faith, we see how God is more powerful than the bee;  we can get as close to the work as possible without being destroyed. Through faith we are clothed in the bee keeper's suit, able to move through the army of bees --- the smoke confuses them and we are now undetected.

If bee keepers never wore the shields, the world would never know the sweetness of honey.
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Our acting in faith, bravely and boldly in the power of God, brings the sweet Gospel out to places where Satan thinks he has dominion.  His darts of fire have no power against holy Jehovah faith.
Get your suit on, God has some honey for you to harvest in His Name.

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